


Star Wars: Ascendancy

by MrPyroCrab



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-10-24 13:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 58,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17704733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrPyroCrab/pseuds/MrPyroCrab
Summary: This story was originally posted on Fanfiction.net on 12th November 2018, but now that I have an account I've decided to publish it on this site too.A sequel to Star Wars: Rebels. Stranded in the Unknown Regions without enough fuel to return to Imperial Space, Grand Admiral Thrawn is left with one option for survival: to return to his home, the Chiss Ascendancy. In order to navigate the Unknown Regions he makes an unholy alliance with the Rebel Jedi Ezra Bridger, and promises him information on a threat to the entire Galaxy him and his friends could have never possibly imagined...





	1. Displaced

**Author's Note:**

> (This story was originally published on Fanfiction.net on 12th November 2018, the following foreword was included in the original story)
> 
> Author's foreword: Welp, here it is, the fanfic I've been on working since Rebels ended at long last comes to , and probably AO3 in the near future.
> 
> I wrote this for a bunch of reasons, my disillusionment with The Last Jedi, my disappointment with Resistance, the fact I had zero interest in Episode 9 and also that I really wanted to know what happened to Ezra and Thrawn after the finale. Pretty much the only Star Wars related thing I have any interest in right now is finding out what happened to the Chimaera, and that's what this story is about. I just asked myself "what would I like to see from a Rebels sequel?" And I put all of that in here. Star Wars: Ascendancy is a continuation of Ezra's story, and a detailed account of his journey through the Unknown Regions. It is also a continuation of Thrawn's story, as he tries to balance his dual allegiances, and prevent the Ascendancy from tearing itself apart while enacting the Emperor's plans for the Unknown Regions. Old friends and new allies will appear for both the Jedi and the Grand Admiral, and there are always more enemies to be identified, faced and vanquished, especially in this unexplored part of space...
> 
> Displaced is the first part of Ascendancy, detailing the journey to the Chiss Ascendancy where the story really takes off. This story functions as a sequel to Rebels but it also sort of functions as a sequel to the two canon Thrawn novels, and features Commodore Faro, a character from those books, quite prominently.
> 
> If you have criticisms, be civil and be constructive. I put a lot of work into this story, and I really hope you enjoy it, and if you read it, please do give me feedback, I'd really love to hear what you have to say.
> 
> Oh, and keep an eye out for Legends material, there's going to be a lot of Legends references in this story.

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

**STAR WARS: ASCENDANCY**

"Whatever happens now, happens to both of us..."

"Grand Admiral? Are you alright? Grand Admiral!"

Thrawn slowly opened his eyes to the sight of the Chimaera's bridge in chaos. Fire and sparks sputtered from every direction as Imperial personnel scrambled to douse the flames. The klaxon alarm wailed in the background as personnel ran in and out of the bridge, Thrawn turned to see Commodore Faro, his second in command, attempting to rouse him from his unconsciousness.

"I am alright, Commodore."

Faro breathed a sigh of relief as she helped Thrawn to his feet. After dusting himself off he took a closer look around the bridge. Blast shields had shut over the broken windows, protecting them from being dragged into space. His eyes then focused on the source of the Chimaera's woes. Ezra Bridger was out cold, presumably knocked unconscious during the Chimaera's violent exit from Lothal's Atmosphere. Faro looked haggard, her uniform was ruffled and creased she was covered in bruises. Clearly nobody had come out of the Battle of Lothal unscathed.

"Commodore Faro, damage report" Thrawn said to her, almost as if nothing had happened. Faro looked over her datapad. "Bad, Sir, numerous systems have suffered a critical failure. Most of the fighters are intact, as are the engines. However our shielding, weaponry, sensors, long range communications, and other systems have taken a beating. As for the bridge... well, see for yourself." Faro added grimly. "Permission to speak freely Sir?"

"Permission granted, Commodore." Thrawn said, nodding to an officer who handed the Grand Admiral the blaster he had dropped during the battle. Thrawn placed it back in it's holster.

"What.. exactly happened, Grand Admiral? I was just finishing the duty roster on the secondary bridge, and then all of a sudden it felt like... like an earthquake had just started on the ship. As soon as the alarms went off I rushed up here and I saw you, the Jedi, and several of the crew lying unconscious and now we're out in deep space and Lothal is nowhere in sight."

"I'm not sure you would believe me if I told you, Commodore." Thrawn said dryly.

"We've been through a lot together sir. What could possibly have happened?"

"The Jedi summoned spacefaring creatures unknown to us, then used the force to command them to drag us into hyperspace." Faro's eyes widened in shock, as the absurd explanation sank in.

"It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I can vouch for it, I'm quite proud of it, actually." Another voice chided in.

She looked like she was about to say something when the Jedi in question started to pick himself up off the floor. The young Jedi wobbled as he struggled to find his footing, but eventually managed to stand up straight. Faro glared at Ezra as she raised her blaster at the Jedi that had just wrecked her ship. Thrawn motioned for her to lower her weapon as he merely stepped passed her and began to speak with Ezra.

"Ezra Bridger, my apologies, in all the commotion I nearly forgot you were here." Thrawn sounded was completely unphased by the events that had just transpired. "First, I must apologise, I sincerely underestimated the abilities of the Jedi, I'm genuinely impressed at the trickery you were able to pull off against an entire imperial fleet.."

"Hey, don't thank me," Ezra said dismissively. "Thank the Purrgil, if it weren't for them we wouldn't be standing here right now." Ezra said with a smirk, clearly satisfied with himself, and how his scheme had played out.

"Purrgil? I have never heard that name before, I presume that these would be the beasts that dragged us here?" Thrawn turned back towards Faro, "As a matter of fact. see if you can find out where exactly we are, Commodore."

"But sir, the Jedi," Faro protested. "He's right here!"

"Correct, but he has nowhere to run, he has no intention of running." Thrawn looked back at Ezra. "It is in the nature of the Jedi to sacrifice themselves for others, to commit to actions for the sake of others with little to no regard for their own safety. You had no intention of returning from this, did you?"

"Nope." Ezra said, smirking defiantly at Thrawn, "I told the Purrgil to drag us as far from Lothal as they possibly could, all I needed was to get you and the rest of your Imp cronies away from my home planet, if we die out here, I'll die happy." Ezra went into this knowing full well he probably wouldn't come back. This was the end goal, the end of his story, and Thrawn's. They'd both die out in the cold of space, never knowing what happened to Lothal or the Empire in the end.

Faro scowled at the boy, this was a suicide mission for him. He was going to go down and bring the entire Chimaera with them, it took all of her willpower to not just pull out her blaster shoot Ezra there and then.

"Commodore, our location?" Thrawn asked. Faro reluctantly stopped, and refocused on the task at hand. "Right, OK Grand Admiral" she said, her anger fading slightly, "I'll find out where we are." The crew of the Chimaera were some of the best the Empire had to offer, if this idiotic rebel boy thought they were just going to roll over, give up and die, he had another thing coming. They would get back to Imperial Space, and then they would go to Coruscant, and Faro would watch in great satisfaction as the Emperor executed this rebel scum personally.

"Anyways, you have a nice comfy cell I can relax in for a while?" Ezra asked sarcastically. He acted defiant, but was rubbing his shoulder, it still hurt from the hit from Thrawn's blaster bolt. "As I thought. You don't plan on escaping? Do you?" Thrawn asked back.

"I'm too tired to escape." Ezra replied. This was true, even if he had any intention of escaping, he was so fatigued that standing itself was a struggle, commanding the Purrgil, telling them where to go, and holding his whole Purrgil fleet together for an extended period of time had taken a lot out of him, not to mention the blaster burn on his shoulder.

"Fair enough, troopers, take our Jedi here to the med-bay, he clearly requires treatment." Thrawn ordered as a Death trooper picked himself off the floor and checked his comrades before standing to attention and nodding as he and a Stormtrooper put him over their shoulders. "What about you sir?" the stormtrooper asked. "I'm alright, thank you". Thrawn replied.

Faro continued to work with the navigations, by now she'd called in a technician or two to try get it running again. As Ezra was lead away the comm officer had gotten back up to his station. "Admiral! We're receiving a hail from the Judicator!" The comm officer said with relief. "She's coming up on our port side. Our main systems are still down so I'm patching the captain through to your comm sir." Thrawn's comm flickered to life as a familiar voice began to come through.

"Hello? Chimaera? Is anybody reading me? Hello? ISD Chimaera come in!"

"Captain Pellaeon, this is Grand Admiral Thrawn. We read you loud and clear". This was good news, if Thrawn was picking up Captain Pellaeon, him and his Star Destroyer, as well as the rest of the flee _t_ probably weren't too far spread out. "Ah, Grand Admiral! It's good to hear from you, we feared the worst over here..." Pellaeon said grimly, "we can see the Chimaera out the window, how are you doing over there?"

"We're still alive, mostly. Some are wounded, but the ship seems to have taken the brunt of the damage." Thrawn told Pellaeon. "That's good to hear Grand Admiral, same story as the Judicator. So, I presume those creatures pulled you through hyperspace as well?"

"The Chimaera was the Jedi's primary target. But judging from what you have just told me, it would appear the Purrgil decided to take more of the Seventh Fleet as well."

"Oh they took more than just us sir, I can see two other Star Destroyers outside the window, I can't identify them though, we haven't been able to establish communications."

"Interesting..." Thrawn began to wonder just how much of the Seventh Fleet the Purrgil had dragged from Lothal. "Send boarding parties to the other two Star Destroyers, see if they survived and re-establish communication."

"Right away sir. Captain Pellaeon out." Thrawn put away his comm. "Sir, mapping systems are back online!" a technician called over to Thrawn. Faro was visibly relieved that they'd managed to actually make some progress. She switched on the navigational displays...

And her heart promptly sank when the map came on.

"I don't understand... I don't recognise _any_ of these systems, where are we?" Faro said as she stared with confusion at an unfamiliar set of star systems.

"I do..." Thrawn said grimly as he took a step forward. "You recognise this system, Sir?" Faro asked. "Unfortunately... yes." Thrawn replied.

Thrawn stepped up to the holo projector. He keyed a few buttons in, and the holo-map zoomed out to a full map of the galaxy, a blinking red dot indicating the location of the Chimaera.

If Faro's heart hadn't sunk before, it certainly did now.

"The... Unknown... Regions..." Faro said with apprehension. The blinking red dot lingered there, taunting her, taunting all of them, every blip felt like a punch in the stomach as the reality of the situation sunk in.

"That's impossible..." Faro said, sounding less like she believed it, and more like she was trying to convince herself.

* * *

 

"The Unknown Regions..." Pellaeon pondered the situation, his moustache twitched as the words lingered in his mind. The Captain of Admiral Durril's former flagship (a ship he had shamefully abandoned after Batonn) was a recent addition to the Seventh Fleet, only joining after Atollon. He was a fairly straightforward Imperial Captain, but a good one nonetheless. He stood now at the rear of the bridge, at the holo-projector alongside projectsion of the fleet's command staff, listening to the technical reports on the fleets status. As he did so he glanced at the other commanders. Most were fairly experienced officers but this situation had shaken them all, nobody had ever seen anything quite like the creatures the Jedi called. All of them were shaken, except of course the Grand Admiral himself, who for some reason had taken a liking to Pellaeon, this was obvious when he placed him in command of the fleet during the battle of Lothal, but Pellaeon himself wasn't quite sure why..

"Have you managed to make a full assessment of the fleet yet?" Thrawn asked.

"Yes sir" His mind snapped back to the present, "The Star Destroyers we could see on our scanners have been identified as the _Death's Head_ and the _Inexorable_ , and they have now moved to meet us here, on top of that, we also made contact with the _Stormhawk_ , the _Bellicose_ , the _Relentless_ and the _Nemesis_ , those four, plus the _Judicator_ and the _Chimaera_ makes eight Star Destroyers in total." Pellaeon explained. "No sign of any of our smaller support ships, and no sign of the _Peremptory_."

"It is most likely that the Purrgil simply destroyed the escort ships when they were dragged through hyperspace. The _Peremptory_ was destroyed at Lothal, I was there to witness the Purrgil ram through the bridge." Thrawn recalled. "A shame," Pellaeon said, "it was a good ship."

"Anyways, the fleet's communications have been restored, the Death's Head and the Inexorable are operational, even if their crews are shaken, and the rest of the fleet is ready for orders. We stand ready to return to Imperial Space at your order Admiral."

"I'm afraid that's not an option." Faro interjected, "The helm has been making calculations and it doesn't look like we all will have enough fuel to get back to Imperial space. Not to mention the anomalies and unknown gravity wells that have them spooked to even attempt a jump until they get the long range scanners back online."

"Not even to our most remote outposts? Not even to Bakura?" Pellaeon asked.

"Not even to Bakura..." Faro's words sounded like a funeral oration, "We start flying for Imperial space and we're going to simply stop dead before we get there. Or worse"

The conference was silent for a moment as they all pondered their options. Ezra really had seen this through to the end. Thrawn was the first to break the silence.

"No," Thrawn sighed, "We are not safe here, not at all, there are far too many threats lurking in this area of space, threats we will not be able to fight in our current weakened state."

"What about long range communications Grand Admiral? Could we contact any Imperial Stations?" Pellaeon asked.

"I'm afraid that's not an option either" Faro responded looking down at her datapad."Techs say it's the same problem, we don't have the rage to connect with even the most remote Holonet station." Faro told Pellaeon. Thrawn looked downwards, lost in thought for a moment, before finally deciding on a course of action. "We need to move, Pellaeon you are hereby assigned to act as the Fleet liaison officer between all ships and are to report to Commodore Faro." Thrawn turn to the side "Commodore, you will be retaking your role as the Chimaeras Captain and begin coordinating a fleet wide hyperspace jump." Thrawn ordered.

"But sir, where to? Like I said, we don't have enough fuel to return to Imperial space. There's nowhere for us to go Grand Admiral." Faro said.

"No, we have one option..." Thrawn replied, he sighed, almost in resignation, "Though I must admit, I did not want the Empire knowing the location of my people, but it is our only option for survival."

"Oh no, you don't mean..." Faro stopped as the realisation dawned on her of exactly where they were going.

"Commodore Faro, Captain Pellaeon..." Thrawn input some more commands into the projector, and another point was marked out within the Unknown Regions, no doubt their destination.

"Alert all commands, we are headed to the Chiss Ascendancy."

* * *

 

"The Chiss Ascendancy..." Faro muttered to herself.

"The Chiss Ascendancy? I presume that's where you're from, Grand Admiral?" Pellaeon asked. He was vaguely aware that the Grand Admiral had hailed from somewhere in the Unknown Regions, but that was about it.

"Correct, the Chiss Ascendancy is the native territory of the Chiss people, consisting of Csilla and it's colony worlds." Thrawn explained, "The journey will be long but I have complete confidence that we shall make it safely to their territory."

"How do you know they won't simply kill us to avoid the Empire finding them?" Faro asked.

"My people are above all, pragmatic, the risk of angering the Empire in such a way would not be worth the reward." Thrawn replied. "Besides, a hypothetical Imperial Invasion of the Chiss Ascendancy would be a logistical disaster, and it would be obvious to them from the outset that even if we wanted to attack them, we are in no state to do so."

"Then it's settled, we go to the Chiss Ascendancy." Faro said, not really sure of the plan herself. "But that doesn't solve the problem of how exactly we're going to get there." Pellaeon continued. This whole area is uncharted, and with all of these anomalies it could take months to chart a safe path for us to somewhere you might have a working knowledge of sir."

"I have a potential solution, though it is risky, and possibly could be construed as treasonous by some of you, but it will no doubt reduce the journeys length by weeks." He studied the officers faces before continuing. "Commodore Faro, do you remember the children the Chiss rescued from the Grysk near Batuu?"

Faro began to remember the incident near Batuu, and how the Chiss used force sensitive children to guide them through the Unknown Regions.

"You aren't seriously suggesting what I think you are, Sir? Are you?"

* * *

 

The doors closed behind him and Ezra yawned as he lay down in a cell in the Chimaera's brig. One thing that caught the entire Chimaera crew off-guard, except for the Grand Admiral, obviously, was just how little he actually cared about escaping, at least for now. The guards hadn't even bothered to lock the door, but from the damage he had seen on the way down it was plausible that they didn't have the power for the cell block security systems, they had to get the ship back up and running.

He was lost in space, on an enemy ship, with no lightsaber. He ached all over, and his shoulder still seared from the blaster burn. The past twenty four standard hours had taken so much out of him, and he was just happy to actually get a moment's rest. Everything from infiltrating the dome, to facing the Emperor, to controlling the Purrgil and directing them away from Lothal, had taken its toll on poor Ezra. He'd figure out some way out of this mess, but right now he was too tired to think...

"Did you direct your 'friends' to take us into the Unknown Regions deliberately or was that just a fortunate development?" a voice stirred him from his rest.

Ezra turned his head, and sat up to see Thrawn standing in the doorway of the cell, a Death Trooper standing at attention outside as he walked in. Thrawn was his usual cold, calculating self, if Ezra didn't know any better he would've never guessed what the Grand Admiral had just been through. Wait... did he say the Unknown Regions?

"No, no that wasn't my idea at all." Ezra said sitting up a little, "I just told the Purrgil to get this ship as far away from Lothal as possible."

The Unknown Regions? _The_ Unknown Regions? Had they really been taken that far? "Wait, are we actually in the Unknown Regions?" Ezra asked. "I'm afraid so" Thrawn replied as he stepped down into the cell. "Far past the known boundaries of the Empire."

Ezra's mind began to race, he'd heard stories of the Unknown Regions, of strange sightings encountered by spacers on the edge of it's vast, murky depths, and now he was right in the middle of it. Too many emotions to count ran through his head as he processed the information. The fatigue began to fade away as his mind focused on the new information presented to him.

And when he realised the gravity of his situation, it hit him like an out of control TIE Fighter, barrelling straight towards him, and only one word came to the forefront of his mind. Only one verbal expression could possibly hope to express his shock.

"Karabast..."

"That is why I am here Bridger, to ask for your assistance." Thrawn said. "The Unknown Regions are treacherous, and filled with hyperspace anomalies. On top of that, the Chimaera's maps do not have records of this area, we will be travelling through uncharted space, and an individual with abilities such as yourself would be most beneficial to us."

Ezra almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Grand Admiral Thrawn, the man who was fully ready to blast his home to smithereens just a few hours ago and had tried on multiple occasions to destroy everything and everybody he loved, was now asking him for help.

"You expect me to help _you?_ After everything you've done? No way, I'd rather just sit out here and die than help you." Ezra said, sitting back and folding his arms as he scowled at Thrawn, "If you get back to Imperial Space, you'll go back to Lothal and finish what you started."

"An admirable sacrifice, Jedi. But i'm afraid your services are required, and I believe we can help each other" Thrawn said.

Ezra had put up with so many grating, irritating and arrogant Imperial Officers, and had long become accustomed to the catharsis of watching their arrogance fade away in a sea of frustration as him and the Spectres ruined their plans. Which was why there was something _infuriating_ about Thrawn, nothing phased him, ever, no matter how big the setback Thrawn simply got back up and carried on as he was. Ezra had just brought Thrawn's entire fleet crashing into the Unknown Regions and here he was, standing tall as if nothing had happened, politely asking for his assistance as if they hadn't been mortal enemies for years.

"Look, you can do whatever you want with me, I am _not_ helping you." Ezra sneered.

"So you would honestly rather just die out here, never knowing what happened to the Rebellion, your friends, or Lothal?" Thrawn asked.

"Yep." Ezra shrugged.

Thrawn thought to himself for a moment, turning away and pacing around the cell. He had thought carefully as to how he was going to win Ezra over, and had a plan. Ezra cared for his friends, deeply, and would do anything to protect them. Trying to coerce or force Ezra to help him was futile, the Jedi would honestly rather die than give up his friends to the Empire.

Fortunately for the Imperials, as usual, Thrawn had a plan.

"I presume you are aware of the Empire's attitude towards non-humans?" Thrawn asked.

"Of course I do..." The Empire's xenophobic tendencies had long got under his skin. He'd seen far too many innocents suffer under the thumb of the Empire simply because they were born the wrong species.

"And yet you never stopped to ask as to exactly how I, a non-human, managed to achieve the highest rank in the Imperial Navy? Did you never stop to ask what species I am? And why you have never once seen another member of my species, or even what species I am?"

"I don't know, I always just assumed you were a Pantoran with an eye condition." Ezra's sarcastic remark was merely posturing though. Underneath he was actually asking that very same question, come to think of it, he had never seen another member of Thrawn's species, whatever it was, though Ezra had always just assumed Thrawn was simply from some far out obscure part of Imperial Space, some forgotten corner of the Outer Rim or maybe even Wild Space.

Now that Ezra really sat down and thought about it, what _was_ Thrawn anyway?

"What if I told you that I hailed from outside Imperial Space? And that my people have been living in a sector of space not far from our current location? A separate, isolated civilization within the Unknown Regions, outside of Imperial Space."

What? Was Ezra hearing him right? A whole other empire in the Unknown Regions? This had to be a trick of some sort, an idea like that was way too far fetched. "Yeah right, I don't believe that. If you're from this magical 'other civilization', then why did you run off to join the Empire?" Ezra asked.

"I wished to make contact with Emperor Palpatine, in order to establish an alliance and turn the Empire's vast war machine against our enemies." Thrawn explained. "Your enemies?" Ezra inquired.

"What if I told you there are things _far_ worse in this Galaxy than the Empire?" Thrawn asked him. "Nightmarish abominations and evils that could annihilate your Rebellion with minimal effort, swiping them away in an instant."

This was a trick, this had to be a trick, some sort of scheme by Thrawn to trick him into saving them. Ezra wasn't going to buy it. "You're messing with my head, you're trying to trick me into helping you get back to Lothal so you can destroy it. I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

Thrawn sighed at the Jedi's naivety, "You said you were prepared to die out here never knowing what happened to your friends, but are you willing to die out here knowing you could have went back and warned them about what lurks in this forgotten part of space? I am sure your Rebellion will be grateful for your sacrifice when they are attacked, without warning, from the very depths of the Unknown Regions by some unimaginable monstrosity they couldn't possibly have known about, their victory over the Empire rendered pointless. If you help us get to the Chiss Ascendancy, perhaps we can work together to fight the horrors of the Unknown Regions and avoid that fate." Thrawn suggested.

"Wait, Chiss _what?"_ Ezra asked in confusion.

"The Chiss Ascendancy," Thrawn corrected him, "the home of my people, the Chiss." He continued. "We don't have enough fuel to return to Imperial Space, so my fleet has plotted a course for the Ascendancy instead. I came here so that we could put aside our differences and reach the relative safety of the Chiss Ascendancy. From there, we can refuel, repair, and then return to known space."

This situation was somehow even more absurd than what he had done with the Purrgil. Thrawn was bad enough, and now Ezra had just learnt there were more of him. However, he had to admit, his curiosity was peaked. Were they all this insufferable? Ruthless? Cold? Detached? Or was Thrawn just some strange outlier, even among his own people? More so, as much as Ezra couldn't stand Thrawn, he couldn't deny that Thrawn was, quite frankly, a genius. The Grand Admiral had given him and his friends far too much trouble over the years, and if the rest of these "Chiss" were as formidable in combat as him, well that idea was more terrifying than any number of Inquisitors, or even Sith Lords for that matter.

"Holding grudges in a life or death situation can be fatal." Thrawn said, "There are bigger things at stake here than just the conflict between your Rebels and my Empire."

"You expect me to just forget about the fact that you were willing to destroy Lothal?" Ezra asked. This entire situation was a joke, he thought. And not the good kind, the kind of horrible joke Zeb or Chopper would tell just to annoy him.

"Lothal is one planet, the galaxy is at stake." Thrawn told him sternly, doubling down. "I joined the Empire to warn them about threats of an existential nature, threats which would no doubt destroy Lothal, if I have to destroy one planet to save trillions of others from destruction, then so be it." Thrawn took a step away from his Ezra, staring at the wall.

"Sorry, but I'm not about to trust somebody who just a while ago was ready to destroy my home planet."

Thrawn looked like he was about to reply when suddenly his comm beeped to life. He picked it up as the voice of Commodore Faro came through.

"Grand Admiral, you're needed on the bridge. We're ready to move out and the rest of the fleet has just arrived, but there's something else, the Death's Head detected something at the edge of the system as it came in. Captain Harbid wished to discuss it."

"I will be there momentarily Commodore, Thrawn out." He motioned to Ezra, "it looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to see these threats first-hand, I think it is time for you to see what was so dangerous it caused me to join the Empire." Thrawn stepped out of the cell and he and his guard began walking away towards the turbolift.

"You're just going to let me out of the cell and roam around you ship freely? Aren't you worried I'll escape?" Ezra asked, following behind them.

"And if you were to escape, where would you go? We are far too deep within the Unknown Regions for you to effectively return to your Rebellion, leaving the Chimaera would be suicide."

Ezra grimaced, he hadn't thought about that. "Good point, alright, show me this 'threat' of yours."

* * *

 

"Commodore Faro. Is my Flagship ready?" The Grand Admiral asked, for Faro this just allowed her to think of this as business as usual.

"Yes sir. The Chimera is ready and the fleet is standing by to move out on your command" After this Thrawn followed her to the front of the bridge and she keyed in a line with the Death's Head and Captain Harbid reported in.

"And one more thing sir.." He added, before a hologram of a very bizarre looking ship appeared, " _This_ was hiding at the edge of our sensors, Sir. Com-Scan managed to catch it before it slipped out. It was running a passive scan of the system as we dropped in then ducked back into the asteroid field. I don't know what it is but as you can see it has a very organic look to it, shell shaped like a giant oyster, and we couldn't track it again after it left our scanners. A lieutenant suggested we move to investigate but I thought it would be better if we just acted like we didn't see it and reported to you sir."

 _Organic,_ that was the word he used. Ezra studied the… creature? Ship? Whatever it was, and noticed it's design. The front indeed appeared to be a large shell, with a long tail extending backwards. Various flagella protruded from the sides and hung downwards. The whole structure reminded of him a shark swimming through the water. Faro was similarly studying the strange object, mind focused intently on figuring out what exactly it was.

"Thank you Captain Harbin. You acted as needed. Fall in formation with the other ships and await further orders" Harbin acknowledged and the comm switched off and Thrawn turned to Faro.

"Sir, with all due respect, what's _he_ doing here?" Faro at last motioned angrily towards the Jedi, momentarily breaking his focus from the object.

"The Jedi is here to see what is at stake." Thrawn replied. "But regardless, be ready to move immediately, we are in grave danger. I recognize that ship, it is a scouting vessel, no doubt searching for prey for it's fleet."

"If it's a hostile, we should destroy it, Sir." Faro interrupted.

"There would be no point, it no doubt reported our location as soon as it arrived, and it's mothership, as well as the rest of the fleet is most likely on it's way."

And almost as if by clockwork the bridges busy crew went silent as a beeping tone went off from the threat assessment station and the klaxon blared as all hands went to battle stations.

"Sir! Sensors are registering anomalous readings!" Another specialist reported after the other "We've got several contacts dropping in from hyperspace!" The tension started to draw everyone in like a wave and Thrawn stood unflinching amidst it. Ezra's eyes darted from side to side watching the cohesion of a crew preparing for battle."It's a full fleet Sir! It's huge! Dozens... maybe even _hundreds_ of ships!"

"Bring us about and stand by to withdraw" Commodore Faro ordered to the crew pit as she moved to the Admirals side.

"That would no doubt be the fleet," Thrawn explained, "all ships, prepare for hyperspace jump on my mark." Thrawn stood ready to deliver the order.

"Sir! We need to jump now!" Faro pleaded quietly to the Admiral, "We are in no shape to fight a fully equipped hostile fleet."

"Without navigational charts of an area as rife with anomalies as the Unknown Regions, a hyperspace jump would be suicide." Thrawn corrected her, he said that to Faro, but Ezra knew better, that statement was intended for him. Thrawn then turned to Ezra, "So what shall it be, Bridger? Will we work together to warn the Galaxy of what lurks in the dark? Or will we go to our deaths here, nobody ever knowing what happened to us?" Thrawn asked, held out his hand to a seat down in the in the crew pit.

Ezra saw Faro glare at him with fury, loathing the fact that her life now may very well depend on this Jedi. He looked around and saw, no, he _sensed_ their fear through the force, the bridge was filled with genuine terror from the Imperials, wonder and amazement as to what exactly a large fleet was doing in this part of space. For the first time ever, Ezra felt Imperials, his mortal enemies, being _scared_.

All except Thrawn of course, who calmly awaited his response.

This wasn't a trick, dammit, Thrawn had done it again. Once more, he'd outsmarted Ezra and maneuvered him right where he wanted him, putting Ezra in a snap life or death decision.

"Alright! Fine! I'll do it! I'll help you now jump!" Ezra yelled at the Admiral.

"That's all I needed to hear," Thrawn said, his gaze going to his crew and his fleet.

Ezra rushed down and sat in the chair at the helm console and closed his eyes. As he had done so many times he took a deep breath and the bridge fell out around him as he reached out with the force. He saw the ships, the asteroids, and the stars. He heard the crew reporting in the background as he reached down and keyed the hyperdrive.

But there was something else, this fleet that was coming... he could feel it, or more accurately, he couldn't. It was hard to explain, something only one in-tune with the force could understand. But he felt… death, darkness. A void in the force, where it's will was denied, a blind spot, it felt… cold…

 

"All ships moving with us sir. Jumping to Hyperspace.. Now!" Faro reported as the stars outside stretched into white lines and finally exploding into a brilliant blue as the Chimaera fled into hyperspace, the rest of the Seventh Fleet following behind it.

Ezra let out a sigh of relief, glad to put distance between him and… whatever that was, he sat keying the controls and guiding the Star Destroyers past gravity wells and asteroids, away from the fleet that had come to catch them and away from the dark edge of space that they arrived in, and now all Ezra had to do was not slip on one of the keys. It would be too embarrassing for it to end like this after everything he had done...

* * *

 

"Arrival in Three.. Two.. One.. Mark" the chief navigation officer reported and Ezra slowly lowered his hands and opened his eyes. He felt stiff and tired. Looking at the crono display on the computer console he had been navigating the fleet for almost eight hours before Thrawn had directed him to drop them out of hyperspace.

"Thank you for your assistance Ezra." Thrawn said from the command walkway as he handed a datapad back to a junior officer. "We will be moving the fleet to cover to continue repairs. We will be making preparations for another jump in twelve standard hours. In the meantime I suggest you get some rest. Quarters have been prepared for you." Thrawn turned as Ezra walked up beside him. "Is there something else you wish to discuss then?"

"Are you going to tell me what exactly that was back there?" Ezra asked Thrawn.

"I will tell you everything I know of them once we reach the relative safety of the Ascendancy. For now, we focus on the voyage ahead." Thrawn said, "Your cooperation is most appreciated, Bridger, now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

Ezra had done this sort of guidance before, in particularly far out parts of the galaxy, where hyperspace routes could be poorly defined and rarely travelled. Back when Phoenix Squadron had been searching for a base, him and Kanan would sometimes guide the Ghost in a similar manner. Reaching out to find a suitable base had made them targets for Inquisitors time and time again.

And he was curious as to what exactly he had come so close to back there. He could feel it in the force… no, he couldn't, but he could feel a spot where the force was absent, completely and utterly absent. A shroud that blinded him from seeing this "threat" of Thrawn's. Whatever this thing was it was truly an oddity.

Other matters, however, also troubled him. He frowned as he began to think about this impromptu alliance he'd struck with Thrawn. Was he really going to help the Imperials? Was he betraying his friends by doing so? Wouldn't this completely undo his victory over Lothal?

No, he told himself. He was not happy with this situation, and he practically gagged at the thought of working with Imperials, but if these 'Threats' were as dangerous as Thrawn was making them out to be then he had to warn his friends. If Ezra had saved Lothal from the Empire, only to have the Rebels be taken by surprise and destroyed by an enemy they could never have seen coming then everything that had transpired would have been for nought. He had to go through with this, and if he had to fight Thrawn and his fleet again, he would face them gladly, along with whatever else threatened the Rebellion.

But seriously, what was that thing? Thrawn called it a 'bioship'? Ezra wondered as he left the bridge. He returned hours later after resting in his new quarters for a while, and taking a walk around the ship to clear his head. It felt odd, almost surreal, to be going for a leisurely stroll around an _Imperial_ Star Destroyer, let alone the flagship of the Grand Admiral he had been fighting against for almost a year, though of course certain rooms were closed off to him, including the room with the Lothal temple where he had faced the Emperor. He found it quite hard to start up a conversation with anyone as most kept their distance or otherwise avoided him outright. Not that he could blame them, he wasn't sure he wanted to strike up a friendly conversation with Imperials anyways. As he returned to the bridge he retook the station as the fleet maneuvered out from the orbit of a small moon and made the jump to hyperspace.

* * *

 

"You knew that would happen Sir, didn't you?." Faro said, leaning over the holo-projector to support herself.

"A calculated risk, Commodore, one that I was certain would play out in our favour, I apologise for putting the fleet at risk but we were not going to be able to move anywhere without Ezra's guidance." Thrawn said.

"Ezra is stubborn, and staunchly loyal to his Rebellion, it would have taken hours, if not days, to convince him to help us. Peaking his curiosity, and demonstrating to him the threat first hand and forcing him into a snap decision was the most efficient method of winning him over. Ezra cares about his friends above all else, if he believes they are in danger he will do anything to save them." Thrawn explained with his signature calculating demeanour.

"And that fleet? How did you know they would find us?"

"I knew somebody would find us eventually, somebody... hostile. There are many less than hospitable species and factions out here. You have already met the Grysk, Commodore, but there is also the Vagaari, the Ssi-Ruu, the Killiks and many, many more..."

Faro struggled to process the bombardment of information, Ssi-what? Any one of those names raised hundreds of questions, and Thrawn had just given her three. "Though I will admit, I was not expecting anybody to find us this quickly, let alone the Far Outsiders themselves."

"Far Outsiders, Sir?" Faro's face contorted in confusion.

"That is what the Chiss refer to them as, Commodore." Thrawn said, "Though out of all the species my people have encountered, the Far Outsiders are by far the most elusive, they are also the most dangerous."

"What do we do with the Jedi once we get back to Imperial Space?" Faro asked.

"I do not know as of yet. For now, we must focus on reaching the relative safety of the Ascendancy." Thrawn observed his second in command, Faro was visibly exhausted, her uniform was ruffled and her hat was creased, the stress of trying to restore order to the ship while the Grand Admiral was unconscious had visibly taken it's toll on her. "Is there something wrong Commodore? You do not seem to be entirely focused."

Faro turned over to Thrawn. "I'm sorry sir, it's just… Permission to speak freely sir?" Thrawn gives an affirmative nod "It's been exhausting, everything that's happened since we left Lothal. I mean, first we get pulled through hyperspace by those things back there, and now we're being hunted by these 'Far Outsiders' of yours. I don't know how I'm going to keep up with all of this Admiral."

"Understandable, it has been an eventful day. Your efforts to manage the Chimaera in my absence are most appreciated. I'll need you to begin discussions with our supply officer to see what we have in stock and then you are to leave the rest of the fleet liaison work to Captain Pellaeon. It is not your role anymore and I need my commanding officer clear minded and alert." Thrawn takes the datapad from her. "You may go and have a well deserved rest now, Commodore, you are hereby dismissed."

"Thank you Sir." Faro stood at attention and went to the turbolift. As the doors sealed in front of her she let out a sigh of relief, and made her way to her quarters, the past few hours had taken more out of her than she thought she had in her, and after finishing this last task Thrawn assigned to her she was going to go down to her quarters, collapse onto her bed and lie down for as long as she wasn't needed...


	2. Displaced: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Chapter 2, here we go. I'd like to start off by thanking the 200 or so people who read Chapter 1, I'm new to this whole fanfiction thing and it's honestly mind-blowing to think that over 200 people have read something I wrote, seriously, thank you all, I mean it.
> 
> I should probably go ahead and explain what exactly "Displaced" is, and why the first few chapters are labelled as such. Star Wars: Ascendancy is my attempt to make a sequel to Rebels, but it's also a much darker story than Rebels, with a vastly different tone, it's a story where Thrawn, caught between his dual allegiances, is forced to make difficult and often ruthless decision, and Ezra is pushed to his absolute limits as he descends further and further into the Unknown Regions, it won't be overly grimdark, there will be moments of levity, 'breaks' where the intensity is turned down and the characters are allowed to relax, but there will be moments intense enough that the 'breaks' are appreciated just as much by the audience as they are by the characters in the story...
> 
> It would've been jarring to simply jump from one to the other, so I came up with Displaced. Displaced is the transition, the "Ground Zeroes" to Ascendancy's "Phantom Pain", where Rebels becomes Ascendancy, so to speak. The fairly binary good vs evil morality of Rebels melts into the murky gray area of Ascendancy and the tone darkens and becomes more serious. It's the link between the two stories, the chain that connects them, which is why it picks up immediately after the Chimaera leaves Lothal. Once Ezra and Thrawn reach the Chiss Ascendancy, that's where Displaced ends, and the real story begins...
> 
> Oh, and I may have hid a slight dig at Admiral Holdo somewhere in Thrawn's dialogue, so maybe see if you can find that...
> 
> Now, the journey continues. Without further ado, Displaced: Chapter 2:

It had been a long, gruelling month since the fleet had arrived in the Unknown Regions, as well as Ezra's first encounter with the "Far Outsiders" as Thrawn called them. Days and days of constant short, frequent hyperspace jumps, with Ezra constantly adjusting paths, routes, navigating around a myriad of obstacles. The mental fatigue had begun to take it's toll on the Jedi, and the only thing that kept him going at this point was the safety of Lothal. The constant sensor sweeps and brief escapes had begun to drain the crew as well and with the Chiss Ascendancy being the only safe port they knew of it was their only drive to keep going if only to get out from under the pursuit.

At times, Ezra honestly wished he had just died in the battle of Lothal, going down saving his friends would've been much more preferable of an outcome than the slow grind he'd had to trudge through these past few weeks. The Imperials had provided him with private quarters, so that he could rest as much as possible between the taxing stretches of hyperspace navigation, though Ezra wasn't a fan of the room. It was cold, sterile, lifeless. He missed being able to lie down and stare up at one of Sabine's various drawings or artwork on the ceiling, he never thought he'd miss that one drawing she did of when his bunk fell on Zeb, but as it turned anything beat the lifeless sterility of a blank Imperial ceiling. There were objections to him getting the privacy, a lot of personnel were annoyed that this Rebel scum was getting private quarters all to himself, but others understood said scum was their best chance of survival whether they liked it or not.

There were times where this all felt like a bad dream, where he thought he'd go to sleep, only to wake up back in his bunk on the Ghost and be greeted with the sound of Zeb's snoring beneath him, and then he would get up and walk out into the hallway to be greeted by the other Spectres just waiting there for him with smiles on their faces…

But no, every time he went to sleep, staring up at that gray ceiling and closing his eyes, he was awoken hours later by his sleep alarm, a comm call from Commodore Faro, or a report from Communication Officer Lomar. One time he slept so hard that knocking on his door was a Stormtrooper telling him he was needed on the bridge for more navigation.

The first thing he was going to do when this was all over, was find the Spectres, and give all of them a hug. Yes, even Chopper.

The Imperials didn't like having him around, anybody with a brain could figure that out. Every time he'd go to get something to eat (and Imperial Rations tasted terrible, he thought), or just go for a walk around the Chimaera, the Imperials at best ignored him and at worst shot him an angry look or glare, some of them deliberately antagonised him, some of them just ignored him, he'd often overhear some of them talking about how they had friends on the smaller ships, the cruisers and fighters that had been destroyed by the Purrgil, and he honestly didn't know how to feel about that. Ezra was stuck on a warship filled with hundreds of people who absolutely despised him and everything he stood for, and the only reason he wasn't dead was because they needed him to survive. His only hope was that their survival instincts would win out over their anger at him. One would assume that logically that would be the case. But two weeks in Ezra was shaken by an incident where a Cadet, not much older than him in fact, had snapped under the pressure, lashing out at him in a physical assault. Blaming him for them being stuck out here and tried to beat Ezra down in the hallway. Fortunately Ezra had the Force, and was able to simply force push the Cadet backwards before two Stormtroopers restrained him, but it still wasn't easy to watch someone crack under an incredibly stressful situation, even if they were an Imperial, and Ezra found himself constantly looking over his shoulder, making sure some Imperial didn't decide to plunge something sharp into his back.

Another particularly awkward situation occurred one day when he walked by the locked door to the room with the ruins of the Jedi Temple, only to find the three Royal Guards the Emperor had sent after him standing guard by it. After having a giant pile of rubble thrown at them they'd been in the Medical Bay for a week, with the other injured crew, why they stood guard there. Ezra had no idea, perhaps they just had nothing better to do, but he smiled awkwardly at the faceless, unmoving Guards as he sped up his pace hoping to put distance between them before turning the next corner. He'd notice them from time to time, once he saw one leaving Thrawn's office and every time he did cross paths with them they barely even acknowledged his existence, which was probably for the better.

The Far Outsiders were still tracking them, Thrawn was convinced of that. He refused to give details, only dropping vague hints about how the Chiss have fought with them for centuries, and how dangerous and evil they are. At first Ezra was skeptical, but the fleet knew better than to question the Grand Admiral. Every so often, Thrawn was proven right, and another bioship would show up on the edge of their sensors for the briefest of moments. Like a looming shadow it was always there, _watching them._ Ezra had felt its presence once or twice when it got near, catching glimpses of it in his mind, the ship itself reaching out to him. It felt more like a living creature than any sort of vessel he had ever encountered, before he lost it to the darkness of space as he opened his eyes and gazed out the window in a futile attempt to see what was hunting them. The scouting vessels would briefly circle their ships, like a Veermok circling it's prey, before disappearing from his senses. What type of creature could make such a ship? When he looked at those ships, what was staring back at him exactly? All the while, Thrawn observed them in turn, making sure not to let the Far Outsiders know they knew they were being watched. Though why exactly Thrawn was observing them so closely, and what he hoped to gain by doing so, was a mystery to everybody except himself. The only hints of what was running through the Grand Admiral's mind was the occasional inquiry as to why exactly they hadn't attacked yet, the rare remark that this was exceptionally unusual behaviour for the Far Outsiders…

Commodore Faro was far too busy to concern herself with what the Grand Admiral was thinking, not a day rolled by where she didn't walk onto the bridge looking exhausted. For a full month now, she had been trying to hold the Chimaera together and keep morale steady while Thrawn commanded the Fleet. Apparently some of personnel figured being out of Imperial Space was an excuse to break protocol. The Stormtroopers, the Emperor's elite shock troops, were reduced to spending most of their time making sure nobody stole rations. More than once Faro had found an officer falling asleep at their post, but after the first week or so, she'd just given up on even trying to reprimand them, just waking them and moving on. If she was being entirely honest with herself, she'd probably be doing the same thing in their position.

Surprisingly enough however, out of all the personnel aboard the Chimaera, Faro was by far the most civil towards Ezra. Not friendly, civil. She barely even acknowledged his existence, minding her own business whenever they were in the same room. To be honest though, Ezra couldn't figure out if she genuinely was trying to maintain civility or if she was just too tired to be angry at him.

Ezra had also been observing Thrawn, the Grand Admiral who just a month ago had been his mortal enemy, and as he did something interesting happened. Ezra's view of the Admiral had begun to adjust somewhat.

Oh Ezra still didn't like him (He doubted he could ever 'like' a person who did even half the things Thrawn did) but the more he observed Thrawn the more his view on Thrawn began to become more... 'favourable' wasn't the right term, no... 'fair' would probably be the best word to describe it.

Ezra had always thought of Thrawn as just another ruthless Imperial out for blood, smarter than the average Imp, for sure, but just as cut-throat. However, over the past few weeks Ezra noticed something, Thrawn displayed a trait that he had never seen from any other Imperial: genuine care for the well being of his crew. It was subtle, but Thrawn never acted overly hostile or talked down to any of his officers. He showed understanding of the toll Ezra's ploy had taken on them all, and even when they messed up or made a mistake, he would reprimand them yes, but he would explain in clear, concise language what they did wrong, why it was wrong and how to correct it. If a subordinate asked a question or expressed a concern, he would explain it in full, addressing their concerns. It made a welcome change from the usual displays of Imperial arrogance he'd seen over the years.

And it got results, Thrawn's unorthodox way of command worked, in fact it was probably the only reason why the Chimaera hadn't descended into complete anarchy. Many of the crew of the Chimaera just went along with Thrawn's orders without question, because they had learned to trust his intellect, and figured that he knew what he was doing, the crew seemed to serve him not out of fear, but out of genuine loyalty. Morale was surprisingly high in the Chimaera considering it's dire circumstances, oh there were lapses, and the crew was clearly under a lot of stress which weighed them down, but they wanted to get home, they had a clear, set goal that they wanted to accomplish, and they had the determination to do it.

And he didn't know how to feel about it, but Ezra realised, for the first time, that the Empire were people too, that the people serving the Empire were more than just bucketheads for him to knock unconscious and steal their armour and uniforms. It felt weird, being this close to the enemy, he didn't think he'd ever get used to it. They weren't just faceless Imps to him anymore, they were actual people, fearing for their lives in a desperate situation, and trusting their Grand Admiral to get them home safely.

It felt wrong, it felt bizarre for him to actually have some sympathy for Imperials. He just couldn't understand how a man willing to annihilate an entire planet was capable of this.

"The way you do things here is a lot different from most Imperial ships I've seen." Ezra said one day. Thrawn was standing over near a terminal, discussing something with Faro and Communications Officer Lomar when Ezra spoke. Faro and Lomar kept working at whatever they were doing. The Chimaera's crew still didn't like him, or having him around, or having to work with him.

"My methods of command are simply those I have deemed most effective," Thrawn distanced himself from the terminal and walked over to Ezra, who was seated towards the back of the bridge. "I find that my crew responds well to it."

"Yeah, but... this is _not_ like how most Imperials I've met do things." Ezra said, spinning his chair around idly, from side to side, almost out of habit or a desire to test the hinges. "Most captains I've met have just been very... I don't know, 'FIRE RIGHT NOW! DON'T QUESTION MY ORDERS! MOVE OFFICER! GET THE REBEL SCUM ARRGGH! I'M THE CAPTAIN AROUND HERE!" Ezra said in his best mocking impression of a typical arrogant Imperial Officer, flailing his arms and legs as he swiveled in his chair, it was an archetype he had become far too familiar with over the years. Faro gave a slight wince from the command walkway and most around the communication consoles looked up from their stations from that remark then returned to their work.

"I am not most Imperials, I have found in my experience condescension and arrogance are a swift method to loss of faith and low morale in subordinates, which leads to loss of productivity and efficiency, which reduces the overall effectiveness of the individual, the ship, the fleet, and by extension the entire Imperial military itself." Thrawn explained. "And in particularly dire instances, such as the situation we find ourselves in now, dismissing your crew's concerns and fears can even be a fast path to mutiny." He sat down in a chair opposite to Ezra, his glowing red eyes focusing on the Jedi, then lowering in contemplation. "Though... I will admit that I firmly believe if all Imperial officials commanded as I do the Empire would be a far more efficient fighting force, more than a match for the Rebellion."

"Huh, well, I didn't think we'd ever agree on something," Ezra said, casually dismissing Thrawn's remark. Now was not the time, and he would've been lying to himself if he didn't admit that Imperial incompetence had been one of the Phoenix Cell's best assets over the years, "You're right, you aren't most Imperials," he remarked before shifting in his chair slightly, leaning forward. "Why do you work for them anyway? Why did you leave the Chiss Ascendancy?"

"I told you before, the Chiss felt that the Empire would be a useful ally to help deal with hostile forces in the Unknown Regions." Thrawn said, leaning back and clasping his hands together, "the forces I described pose just as much a threat to the Empire as they do to the Ascendancy, and it was decided that if the Empire could be convinced of the mutual threat that they posed, their vast war machine could be turned against the potential invaders."

"And you didn't think to ask the Rebellion?" Ezra asked.

Thrawn let out a sigh, "Your idealism is admirable but such high minded attitudes are simply unfeasible in reality. The Rebellion did not exist at that point, and even if it did the Chiss would not bother with such a meager force." Ezra seemed annoyed at his casual dismissal of the Rebellion. "It is simple numbers, the Empire has the means to fight our enemies, the Rebellion does not. The Chiss have no interest in your conflict, only our own preservation."

"That seems pretty selfish to be honest. So you're just going to let all those innocent people suffer?"

"You would have the Chiss Ascendancy wage a needless and unnecessary war against a vastly more powerful enemy over a conflict they have nothing to gain from?"

"Gah, no, that's not what I..." Ezra sighed as his face found it's way down to his hands, after rubbing them across face for a minute he looked back up. "What about Lothal? You keep saying you want to save people but, a month ago you opened fire on hundreds of innocent people, and started talking about how you were going to destroy the entire planet."

"I have nothing against Lothal or it's people, my bombardment of the planet was nothing personal. It was merely a tactical decision to draw you out." Thrawn explained, "and besides, Lothal's destruction is inevitable now, the Emperor will no doubt be angered by the events there, the loss of the Seventh Fleet and his favourite Grand Admiral, and he will make sure to use the planet as an example of what happens to those who defy him. I bear no hatred or ill-will towards your planet, but had I not destroyed Lothal, the Emperor would have sent somebody else to do it. Somebody far less remorseful than I, somebody unable to appreciate Lothal's people and culture and mourn for it's loss..."

Of course what Ezra didn't know was that Director Krennic's 'Stardust' project was nearing completion. Soon the Death Star, the Emperor's technological terror, would be operational. The Emperor had already picked out a list of planets that would be the first to feel it's wrath, planets he wanted gone, and Lothal was probably fairly high up on that list. It was unfortunate, Thrawn thought, but even had he not bombarded the planet, Lothal's destruction was inevitable, the Emperor himself had demanded it. During his visit to Coruscant, while meeting with the Emperor to discuss the TIE Defender project, Palpatine had angrily stormed in at some point, and demanded Thrawn return to Lothal and destroy the planet immediately. Thrawn was unsure as to exactly why the Emperor had ordered the obliteration of the planet, but it wasn't hard for him to deduce that something had happened to anger him, something had changed, his plans had been interrupted somehow, and Thrawn's disappearance was not going to deter the Emperor, especially with the Death Star so close to completion...

But Ezra didn't need to know that for now. It was a good thing he never stopped to ask exactly why there was a protocol to evacuate _all_ Imperial personnel from the planet…

"My friends will make sure that doesn't happen." Ezra said, almost insulted at Thrawn's sympathy, not caring if it was fake or genuine.

"We shall see."

Ezra was honestly confused, he could tell Thrawn genuinely took no pleasure in destroying Lothal, not even the satisfaction of victory of the Rebels could make up for the displeasure of having to destroy an entire planet. And yet he was still absolutely willing to do it.

"But why? Why just destroy Lothal? Is that really worth it? Is destroying Lothal really worth stopping whatever these Far Outsiders are?"

"As I said when we started our journey, Bridger, if it means saving the galaxy, yes." Thrawn's demeanour darkened, as he recalled his knowledge of the Far Outsiders, he had had far too much experience fighting them back when he was part of the Expansionary Defence Fleet. "Once again it is simple numbers. If I destroy Lothal and stamp out the Rebellion, the Empire has a fighting chance, if I don't, the Empire becomes fractured, weakened, and the Far Outsiders win and reach Lothal, and destroy it anyway." Thrawn's eyes narrowed, his expression darkened further.

"And believe me when I say my bombardment of the planet was practically a mercy compared to what the Far Outsiders would do to Lothal."

Ezra didn't understand yet, but he would, Thrawn knew he would. Ezra hadn't seen the aftermath of their attacks like he had during his time in the Expansionary Defence Force. The cruelty and brutality, vast fields of dead, corpses strung up in massive spectacles of violence, suffering and death. Entire populations butchered slowly and painfully to honour dark gods, their faces twisted into expressions of pure agony, a testament to the unimaginable tortures that had drained the life from them at an agonisingly slow pace.

Thrawn would've gladly obliterated Lothal ten times over if that meant that it's populations would never have to suffer such a fate. Nothing, nobody, not even the Rebels deserved to die in such a manner.

"If the Far Outsiders have their way, the entire Galaxy will burn, the Chiss Ascendancy, the Empire, your Rebellion, Lothal, and billions if not trillions of other planets and systems. They will march across all of known space, trampling anything and everything they find into the ground. Lothal, Ryloth, Mandalore, and many others would have their entire populations slaughtered slowly and painfully, and those they don't kill would be dragged off to a fate far worse than mere death. The Far Outsiders are a people who crave death and destruction. They revere pain and suffering, they see agony as a gift to be spread to all the peoples of the universe, and they are unrelenting zealots who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

Ezra looked away as he really thought about everything the Grand Admiral had just said. Ezra would've never admitted it, but the Admiral... kind of had a point. He still didn't agree with him. The Admiral was far too ruthless for his liking, but his arguments were logical, if ruthlessly detached, and they made sense on some level. Thrawn was never going to turn Ezra away from the Rebels, but, as much as Ezra didn't want to admit it, he had a point.

And these 'Far Outsiders' as he called them. Were they really as much of a threat to the Galaxy as Thrawn made them out to be? Were they really this brutal? Vicious? Bloodthirsty? Were they really worse than the Empire? He'd never even considered the idea there could be something out there worse than the Empire, he'd spent far too long fighting them.

"You do not have to agree with my methods, Bridger," Thrawn said, looking out over the Chimaera's bridge, "but everything I've done I have done to protect my home. Surely, you of all people can understand that?"

Ezra looked like he was about to respond when Faro interjected.

"Grand Admiral, Sensor Officer Hammerly has something to report sir" Thrawn and Ezra walked over to a station where her and Lomar were standing. "Admiral," Lomar began "As we were scanning this system in the direction that we had picked up distant comm trafic, very faint due to the distance but the signals soon became active enough for us to pinpoint and our sensors managed to identify an inhabited world." Hammerly took over turning on the display screen and showing the planet in question. "We've done our best to pick out the best spot for your ships to drop nearby and being a threat assessment with your permission Sir. If we can bargain with them perhaps we could secure resources to help with the more stagnant repair jobs. If not it's one more point of interest to add to our growing database sir."

"Do you have any thoughts Commander Faro?" Faro considered the options. It had been awhile since they had last attempted securing any material or first contact procedures. With the state of the crew if they could find a safe port it might ease the strain everyone was feeling. Including herself.

"I believe it is at least worth a closer look Admiral. With your permission I'll have the Chimaera ready to get under way"

"Very well. Signal Captain Pellaeon. Inform him that we will be temporarily leaving the fleet. He is to hold position until we return, and if we do not, to continue heading toward Chiss space."

After an hour of readying the ship then reassuring Captain Pellaeon and the other ships captains that they would return Commodore Faro ordered the Chimaera to follow the course and make the jump.

They re-entered realspace at the edge of the system and began long range scans. Ahead of them as was a lush green planet. The sensors had noted it was in an industrial age. A promising world, with vibrant blue oceans glistening on the surface.

It would've been beautiful if it wasn't being assaulted by a gargantuan fleet.

"Sir, Comm/scan reports thirty seven unidentified ships, large variance in sizes, mostly warships and transports and they're all focused on that planet." a sensor officer reported. Faro's heart skipped a beat, before she took a closer look at the fleet in front of them and realised these ships weren't organic. These weren't bioships, she thought with a sense of relief as she looked out the bridge viewport. They were technological in design, meaning they hadn't just run into a Far Outsider fleet. "What is this? Have we just walked in on some kind of war?"

"No, it is a raid," Thrawn told her grimly, "I recognise those ships, these are the Vagaari, nomadic slavers who wander the Unknown Regions." Faro looked out onto the fleet of enemy ships. They were all focused around the planet, hammering it's defenses and sending transports down to the surface. No doubt to capture the native population.

"And this, this is them raiding for slaves."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, I'm sure the Outbound Flight fans reading this are probably happy to see the Vagaari again, and we've got more hinting towards the "Far Outsiders", whose identity you've probably already figured out by this point, oh their reveal is coming, and it's going to be grand...
> 
> I wanted to get more into Ezra's psyche in this chapter, as well as the psyche of the Chimaera's crew. This is one half Ezra's story after all, and to be honest, I always felt Rebels wasted him. I felt there was a lot more they could've done with Ezra Bridger as a character, a lot of places they could've explored but just didn't (Dave, I love you, but I'm still mad you didn't do anything with that Sith Holocron...). It's a big part of the reason I wanted to write Ascendancy, to really truly develop Ezra into the character he can be, and give him the spotlight he deserved.
> 
> The other character I wanted to 'fix' was, of course, my favourite Grand Admiral, Thrawn. It sort of bothered me how Thrawn was willing to destroy Lothal. Thrawn is ruthless, definitely, but he's not bloodthirsty (and don't worry, he will get pretty ruthless later on...). So similarly to how Zahn fixed the "Batonn casualties" line in the canon Thrawn book I decided to take a jab at fixing the Lothal bit myself. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the explanation I gave just there. The timing just lines up really well, Thrawn would've been on Coruscant while Palpatine was accessing the World Between Worlds, and I can definitely see Sheev just getting pissed after the gate closes and deciding "Screw it, Thrawn go and murder the entire planet" out of mere spite. Actually, it's probably also why he moved the temple to the Chimaera. Point is, there's a lot of evidence Lothal was marked, and I wanted to touch on that.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed it, as usual please give me feedback, good or bad, though if bad please do be constructive. Next chapter is a confrontation with the Vagaari, as Ezra comes face to face with their despicable tactics...


	3. Displaced: Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we go, another chapter, this is probably my first attempt at writing a battle scene of any sort. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy Displaced: Chapter 3.

The muted sound of Klaxons bayed outside the bridge as Ezra watched as the Vagaari pelted the planet below, smaller transport shuttles repeatedly flying to and from, presumably carrying slaves and troops back and forth. The larger cruiser focused their fire on very specific points, most likely the planet's defences.

"An unfortunate situation, but it is nothing to do with us." Thrawn said, "Commodore Faro, bring us about, run engines to full power, order a hyperspace jump immediately."

"Wait, you're just going to leave them?" Ezra said in shock. "You've got a full Star Destroyer and you're just going to let these 'Vagaari' drag them off?"

"A badly damaged Star Destroyer, low on fuel and without any source of resupply or refueling." Thrawn corrected him. "If we were to intervene now the Vagaari would simply surround and destroy us."

"I've seen what Star Destroyers can do!" Ezra yelled, he was all to familiar with the power of the Empire's fleet, "This ship are way better than whatever junk the Vagaari are using!"

"Nevertheless, we are vastly outnumbered." Thrawn explained, "Think about this logically, Ezra. The Vagaari are slavers, and they are nomads, meaning they have no permanent base of operations. They abandoned their homeworld centuries ago. So where do you think they are keeping all of their captured slaves?"

Ezra grimaced as the realisation dawned on him. "Those ships are full of slaves..." He took a deep breath.

"Sir we have a problem," Faro said, cutting off Ezra's grim thoughts, "there's a gravity well preventing us from jumping."

"No doubt the Vagaari are utilising artificial gravity well generators, a tactic I have seen them use before." Thrawn explained as he turned to her. "They are most useful for capturing fleeing ships."

"Like our own Interdictors?" Faro asked.

"Far more primitive, but the same function yes." Thrawn replied.

"Sir, some of the ships are breaking off." Lieutenant Lomar said worryingly, "They're headed right for us."

"So the Vagaari have taken notice of our sudden arrival." Thrawn pondered, observing the Vagaari fleet. Lomar was right, multiple ships had broken off and were now headed right for the Imperials, Thrawn watched the fleet, taking note of their formation, picking out which ships were more important than others, which ships were a priority, which ships were more protected than others. Faro simply stood there, waiting for the Grand Admiral to say something, her patience growing thin, but her better judgement telling her that Thrawn knew what he was doing.

"There," Thrawn finally said, pointing to a smaller ship, floating in the shadow of a larger cruiser and surrounded by a cluster of what appeared to be corvettes. "That ship there is the Gravity Well Generator, the Vagaari are prioritising it's safety, and from that position it will be unable to fire on us, meaning it's primary task is to keep us here while the rest of the fleet fights us directly."

"Sir, our turbolasers will have to shoot their way through all it's screening ships. By the time that's done the other ships will have already surrounded us."

"We will not be using our turbolasers." Thrawn corrected her. "The Vagaari prefer to fight using their cruisers, they will be ill-equipped to deal with a mass fighter and bomber assault."

"You just said there were masses of slaves on board those ships!" Ezra yelled, voicing his objections, "you'll be killing hundreds of innocent people!"

"Unfortunate, but we are left with no other option." Thrawn told him, "Commodore, order all bombers to target the Gravity Well Generator, and launch all fighters as escort." Thrawn ordered to Faro, "Sir we still have the Defenders," Faro told the Admiral, "We could use them!"

"Correct, Commodore, order Fighter Captain Fel and his squadron to the Defenders."

* * *

 

The alert came in over the comm "All squadrons on alert!" The Chief flight officers voice boomed through the pilots quarters. "Defender squadron to launch with the first wave!" Hearing the call to battle Fighter Captain Soontir Fel rushed to the launch bay as he fastened his helmet on, hooking it into the rest of his flightsuit. Numerous other pilots rushed to their respective fighters and bombers fastening flight suits and helmets together and dropping down into the spherical cockpits. Dozens of pilots began the numerous pre-flight checks as Fel and his pilots dropped down into the TIE Defenders. It felt good to be flying a fighter of actual quality, and the death traps TIE Fighters could often be.

Soontir Fel was a recent addition to the Chimaera, having been chosen to act as TIE Fighter Captain following the demise of Vult Skerris. Nonetheless, his short career had already seen him score a number of key victories elsewhere, and now was his chance to prove his worth to the Seventh Fleet. While he hadn't had a chance to prove himself in combat since he joined the Chimaera, he did have a full month to acquaint himself with the squadron and whip them into shape.

"Defender Squadron, this is Captain Fel," he ordered over comms, "launch on my command and assume escort formation. Our objective is to escort our bombers through the battlezone to the ship the Grand Admiral has outlined. Use evasive manoeuvres for the enemy escort ships, we can't afford to waste munitions." The other pilots acknowledged and Fel watched as the TIEs designated to screen the Chimera launched first, then the TIE Interceptors following behind, and now the Bombers were lifting off just as Fel finished looking over the nav data of the battlefield as he received the go ahead from flight control. "Defender Squadron! Launch!"

Thrawn, Faro and Ezra observed from the bridge as swarms and swarms of TIE Fighters, Bombers, Interceptors and Defenders poured forth from the underside of the Chimera. Fel and his fighters took charge, acting as a spearhead. The Interceptors lined up behind them and the TIE Fighters behind them in a v-shape, the bombers formed up into a wedge, surrounded by the fighters. The TIEs closed in on the Vagaari, and when the point defence cannons opened fire, they scrambled. The Vagaari cannons struggled to hit their swift, agile opponents.

"Defenders Three and Four! Take out those point defence cannons! Bombers! Move forward to the primary target!" Fel ordered as his Defender weaved it's way through the maze of fire, gliding elegantly through the criss-cross of Vagaari weapons. For a capable pilot such as himself, this was almost insultingly easy for Fel, who had adjusted to the state of the art TIE Defender perfectly.

"As expected, the Vagaari were prepared for a direct battle with the Chimaera, the fighter assault has caught them off guard." Thrawn commented, "Forward Ion cannon batteries! Focus fire on the ship at point twenty mark ten! Its moving into position to attempt to intercept our fighters and I want it disabled."

"Copy Admiral!" Weapons officer Pyrondy directed the orders to her console. Several of the Vagaari warships were taking heavy fire now as the assault force moved deep into the enemy formations to strike the Vagaari Interdictor. Fel's defenders launched a barrage of missiles into one of the warships moving to protect it and their Ion torpedos along with fire from the Chimaera made short work of it. Thrawn observed the status boards and watched as some of the Defenders moved across the display to clear a path for the bombers and returned to formation.

"Order Defender Squadron to focus on hitting the enemy ships only in their way. Forward turbolasers deliver more supporting fire ahead of them but be sure not to interfere with the strike force squadrons, we are simply drawing their attention toward us and clearing a path."

The Vagaari were losing, and they knew it, and it was at this point they deployed their last, most desperate, most horrific defence.

"Wh...what the?" Ezra said in confusion.

It was at this moment something unexpected happened, unexpected to all but Thrawn of course. The Vagaari ships opened their hulls, numerous hatches giving way to... transparent bubbles of transparisteel?

"Sir, what is that?" Faro asked, "Some kind of observation deck?"

"No..." Thrawn answered grimly, "I have seen this tactic before, and I was worried they would use it here, the Vagaari have no regard for the safety of their slaves. They see them as little more than cattle."

"Squadron Command! This is Fel! We have a problem!" Fel said, his voice being received by the Chimeras fighter control officer, "Those bubbles on the Gravity Well ship, they're filled with... people, all sorts of different species, they look scared... they look like their screaming..."

"They're using their slaves as shields..." Faro muttered, her face contorting into an expression of shock and disgust at the realisation.

Fel's stomach turned, up close he could see inside the bubbles, the frightened slaves screaming and banging on the surface. All sorts of appendages hit the glass as they silently begged the Imperials not to open fire.

"Requesting orders from the Grand Admiral... what do we do?" Fel asked.

Thrawn sighed, he'd encountered the Vagaari before, he knew he was going to have to do this sooner or later,

"Inform Defender Squadron, You have your orders, Captain Fel."

"I... yes Sir." Fel said in defeated resignation.

"You're just going to open fire!?" Ezra yelled, "You'll be killing hundreds of innocents! It'll be a massacre!"

"We have no other choice, Bridger. We either attack the ships or we die here." Thrawn asserted his position in a stern voice. "If we do not destroy those ships, the slaves will die regardless after a lifetime of suffering under their Vagaari overlords, and we will either be dead or enslaved too." His tone quieted, expressing genuine remorse. "This way, we can at least alleviate their suffering and escape ourselves."

"I... I..." Ezra stuttered, he genuinely didn't know what to do, he couldn't do anything. He simply froze as the powerlessness of his situation hit him like a Wampa's claw.

Thrawn and Faro barely paid any heed as he did the only thing he could do: he simply turned away, he knew what was about to happen, unable to watch the incoming slaughter.

"All bombers! Drop payload on my mark!" Fel ordered his squadron.

Thrawn and Faro simply stood there, stone-faced, as they watched the Vagaari Gravity Well Generator explode, slaves and Vagaari alike engulfed in flames as the whole ship was torn apart by the bombers.

"Captain Fel, return to the Chimaera" Thrawn ordered, once again seemingly displaying no reaction to the massacre. "Flank speed, bring us about one eighty degrees and begin making jump calculations, once our fighters are on board prepare to rendezvous with the fleet."

Ezra simply stood there, angry at the Imperials for killing innocents, angry at these Vagaari for being so heartless, and angry at himself for not being able to do something about it.

But what would he have done? Was there even anything he could've done?

"If it's any consolation, Bridger, by destroying the Vagaari here, we have spared others the same fate." Thrawn said, darkly.

"You still killed all of those people." Ezra sneered, "Jedi don't do that, Jedi don't trade in lives, ever. I would've rather just let those 'Vagaari' kill me."

"Such is the weakness of the Jedi, self-sacrificial to a fault." Thrawn commented, "Self sacrifice can be noble if the reward is worth the sacrifice, but dying here would have accomplished nothing. The Vagaari would have simply killed or enslaved you, and then continued on unopposed, enslaving more and subjecting them to the same fate. Perhaps if the Jedi had've been more practical, they would still be alive." Ezra didn't respond, his back was still turned to the Admiral.

"You have learned a valuable lesson today Ezra, one all warriors must learn sooner or later."

"Jedi aren't warriors." Ezra growled.

"Sir, the Vagaari warships are in complete disarray..." Faro said, observing as the entire fleet scatter and start moving away from the planet.

"Sir!, Sensor contact! It's the bioships again!" Hammerly reported as that monstrous force dropped in right on top of the smouldering Vagaari fleet.

"Interesting, the Far Outsiders are still on our tail..." Thrawn commented. It didn't take long for them to retrieve all of the fighters and jump into hyperspace once again.

"The Far Outsiders are going to destroy that planet now, aren't they?" Ezra asked grimly, a low growl expressing his frustration. There was nothing he could do, and his powerless state got under his skin.

"They will no doubt annihilate the population and move on, yes." Thrawn said, his tone sounded sympathetic, but Ezra couldn't tell if it was genuine or mocking. "Still, if we are able to survive this, many other planets may avoid the same fate."

Ezra simply sighed, too tired to argue, Thrawn didn't understand, he could never understand. He'd had to make tough decisions before, the situation in the World Between Worlds came to mind, where he'd had to watch Kanan die, again.

This wasn't a tough decision, it was simply murder, there's no way he could've lived with himself after doing such a thing.

Ezra simply sighed, sat down, and stared into the bright blue vortex of hyperspace as he began to really wonder what was chasing them, what could be so powerful that eight Star Destroyers couldn't handle it?

* * *

 

"Your Eminence, the unknown warship is moving back to the edge and looks to be leaving the system."

The Vagaari Miskara mulled over the events that had just happened, staring blankly into space where the strange grey ship had just been. What was supposed to be a routine slave-raid had turned into an unexpected encounter with a mysterious new ship. The vessel they had just encountered was massive, bigger than anything the Vagaari possessed. It was large and triangular, with a massive bridge towering above the rest of the ship, and an engraving of a strange two-headed creature on the bottom. The entire surface was littered with weaponry, and the ship carried a sizeable complement of fighters and bombers.

The Miskara, like the rest of the Vagaari, was a short, stout creature. With stubby legs, large feet with four toes, large hands, and pair of twin mouths, one stacked on top of the other, on his pale, flat face. He wore elaborate silk robes, befitting someone of his rank, and like all of his kind, a large mask, far too big for his face, was attached to the back of his robes to make up for his lack of height.

"Your Eminence... we have detected more ships entering the system..."

"More of the strange warships?"

"No, Miskara…" The Vagaari uttered with dread, "Bioships..."

The Miskara grimaced with fear. Oh no, he thought, there was only species that utilised those...

His train of thought was cut-off, as the empty space where the unidentified vessel once was was became filled with a fleet of a dozen bioships. Large, grey warships that took the appearance of large shells. They were almost 2km in length, with black stripes rolling across the top. But the Miskara's attention was focused on the flagship. It was a flagship he recognised instantly. He had never seen it, but he had heard the stories from others in this region and their own history...

It was big, easily at least twice the size of the other ships, and took the appearance of a massive squid, with chitin and coral covered appendages curled together at the front, smaller tendrils hung off the side moving back and forth gently in the vacuum of space.

"My lord... they're hailing us..." one of the Vagaari told him grimly with a gulp.

"Patch it through, _he_ will no doubt want to speak to the Miskara personally."

The Vagaari pressed some buttons, tuning the signal, and all of a sudden a voice echoed through the Miskara's throne room.

"Great Miskara of the Vagaari... I bring thee greetings..." The voice hailed in Minnisiat, one of the many trade languages used in these regions of space. It was deep, distorted by a subtle gurgling noise, interspersed with the occasional click. It spoke slowly, softly, like a scalpel cutting through the air, and it carried an elegance and grace especially rare among _his_ kind. He hung on every word, as if he was carefully considering what he said, and his tone carried a mocking, irreverent element to it.

"Spare the introductions" The Miskara said with trepidation, "I already know who you are, your reputation precedes you... _Voidlord_."

The voice gave a small chuckle at the utterance of the name. "Your Eminence..." It said mockingly, "I am honoured that my reputation is so great that even a creature as _utterly_ _pathetic_ as you has heard of me..." he uttered as his mocking tone melted away into a clear and undisguised loathing.

"You will not speak to the Miskara of the Vagaari that way!" He said angrily, desperately trying to regain control over the situation in a futile attempt to re-assert his authority.

"Oh, don't fool yourself, Your Eminence, you have no power over me," the Voidlord said, "under normal circumstances I would kill you, slowly, for saying that. But fortunately, these aren't normal circumstances. You and your people get to live... for now." It said in a menacing tone. "I require your assistance, Your Eminence."

"And why should we help you? What do we get out of it? What is in it for us?" The Miskara asked.

The voice chuckled again, a sickening chuckle with a sputtering and gurgling undertone, "It's simple, Your Eminence. If you help me... I will let you live." A shiver ran down the Miskara's spine as the Voidlord uttered his threats.

"I know your people, you are nomads, and judging from the size of this fleet, this would appear to be all there is, or at least most of it. And I am also aware of your cowardly tactics. I can assure you, hiding behind your slaves will not save you, should you cross me I will kill both you and your slaves in an equally horrific manner."

The Miskara sighed, defeated, the Voidlord never made promises he couldn't keep. "What do you want from us?"

"That ship you just encountered," the Voidlord said, "do you know of it?"

"No, I am afraid my people have never encountered such a warship."

"A fascinating vessel, isn't it? I'm afraid I am not aware of it's origins myself." The Voidlord said with a gleeful curiosity, "they've been evading my fleet for a while now, the ship you just encountered, and the rest of them too. I have been following them.. Steadily poking and prodding... and studying them... _extensively._ "

"The rest?" the Miskara asked, "There's more?"

"Oh yes, there are seven more, eight in total I believe." The Voidlord explained, "and that is where I need your assistance. Your people are positively useless in a battle, but you are very, _very_ good at tracking and surveying, and finding ships and planets to pilfer. What your people lack in height you more than make up for in cowardice and ingenuity."

"Get to the point, pirate." The Miskara said, angry at his insults. The Vagaari were conquerors, warriors, how dare he call them useless in a battle.

"I want you to track those ships, tell me where they are headed, find out more about them. Tell me everything you can about them. Who built them? Where did they come from? Just how powerful are they? I want to see their hull in pieces and for that I would have your assistance."

"I've had enough of this, open fire on the Voidlord's flagship!" The Miskara ordered. His ship began to move into attack position, cannons targeting the Voidlord's flagship. "Big mistake, Your Eminence"The Voidlord said in a menacing tone spitting the last word.

As he said that, the appendages on the front of his flagship opened up, and the Miskara's ship was suddenly dragged towards the Voidlord's ship by a great gravitational pull, it's shields were ripped apart, and any and all weapon emplacements were violently torn from the ship's hull. The Miskara simply stood there, paralysed with fear, as the ship opened fire, and great chunks of superheated magma began to hit the transparisteel bubbles with the precision of a scalpel.

"What are you doing!?" The Miskara asked,

"Killing your living shields, of course, to show that your cowardly tactics won't work on me." The Voidlord said,

"Alright! Fine! We'll help you!" The Miskara said and after another minute the bombardment stopped.

"Very good, Your Eminence! I knew you would see reason!" The Voidlord said giving a menacing laugh.

"Oh, and just to make sure we don't have any problems..." The Voidlord said in a condescending and straightforward manner, "I shall be taking your treasure ships."

"What!? No!" The Miskara yelled, as he saw the large shell-shaped bioships move towards his treasure fleet and their years of riches, "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"Calm yourself, Miskara" The Voidlord said in a soothing tone, "you will have your riches back... when I get what I want. I know the Vagaari, and I know that if they want to find something in this region of space, they will find it." He uttered smugly. "And with your precious treasure in my pockets, you _will_ want to find these ships. Now get to work... and leave this planet, it's _mine_ now..." He said with a sadistic glee.

"What!? Now!? But we were raiding for slaves!" The Miskara said. "We found this planet! It belongs to the Vagaari! They are ours to take!"

"Oh? You disappoint me, Your Eminence, I was sure you were more understanding than that.." The Voidlord sighed, "Oh well... I guess I'll just have some fun with your treasure fleet instead, and set it ablaze... "

"No, no... we're going..." The Miskara sighed in defeat. He turned to one of his attendants, "Order the fleet to withdraw, tell them to split up, examine every possible hyperspace vector that ship could've taken."

The Vagaari broke off their attack and scattered, the last sight they saw was the Voidlord's fleet turning towards the planet, as the appendages at the front unfurled like a great claw.

The denizens of the planet below cheered when the Vagaari left, but their relief soon turned to horror, as a living nightmare descended on them. With the Vagaari searching for the Imperials, the Voidlord was free to turn his attention fully to this unlucky world.

It didn't take long for the planet to burn...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this chapter, even if Ezra didn't. Mostly because this is where the binary morality of Rebels really starts to collapse. The Vagaari are of course a species from Outbound Flight, and the slave-shields were also a tactic employed by them in that book, a nasty bunch, the Vagaari.
> 
> While it wasn't much, this was also my first attempt at writing a battle scene of any sort, so please do give feedback, the whole purpose of writing this story was basically as an exercise to improve my skills as a writer after all.
> 
> I also hope you enjoyed the return of Soontir Fel, he was definitely one of the more interesting characters in Legends. Basically, he was an Imperial who was genuinely kind of a good guy, and he even defected to the New Republic for a while before joining Thrawn's Empire of the Hand, he was essentially the Empire's answer to Wedge, and probably one of the best pilots in the galaxy, in fact he was married to Wedge's sister, and their son Jagged was a prominent character in his own right (you know, marrying Han and Leia's daughter and all that, and founding the Fel Empire that was around during the Legacy era). I wanted to bring him back because he reinforces the whole morally gray tone that I wanted Ascendancy to have, an Imperial who's actually kind of a good guy, that's interesting and adds a sense of depth I feel. Basically when I found out about Fel, I knew I wanted to include him because he was exactly the type of character I was looking for. He'll probably be a fairly minor character but here he is anyway.
> 
> And the Voidlord, oh man, I don't want to say too much right now, but I have been waiting to introduce this character. I have a few concepts for new characters I want to add in, and the Voidlord is the first. I don't want to give away details, as that would ruin the mystique, but I will say the following:
> 
> I liked Rebels, I really did, but the show had a lot of problems, and one of them was that the Ghost Crew felt a lot like the "B-Team" to the OT's "A-Team", and I think that was unavoidable, because the alternative is taking the spotlight away from the OT crew and that would've been even worse. But I felt Ezra was kind of doomed from the beginning to play second fiddle to Luke, and I began asking myself, how do I really fix this? How do I take Ezra out from under Luke's shadow and make him stand out in his own right?
> 
> While all this was happening, another issue plagued me. Disney Star Wars has a chronic lack of good villains, the villains of Disney era Star Wars... aren't very good, they're either saturday morning cartoon villains who run off yelling "I'll get you next time!" (like most of the imperials in Rebels) or they are complete and utter inept morons incapable of getting anything (this is partially why I hate the Sequel Trilogy so much, the First Order are absolutely dreadful villains, they can't get anything done and they command no authority. Hux is an idiot, Kylo is an idiot, Phasma gets beaten by a janitor and Snoke got killed in a hilariously anti-climatic scene). The only good villains of the Disney SW era so far have been pre-existing villains, Vader, Palpatine, Tarkin, Thrawn, Darth Maul and so-on (I found Krennic entertaining, but he was not threatening), it's been far too long since we got a villain who actually posed a serious threat.
> 
> The Voidlord was my answer to both of these problems.
> 
> In order to make Ezra stand out as a character, I decided he needed to go up against a truly terrifying opponent, somebody easily on the level of Darth Vader or General Grievous (and I mean 2003 CW Grievous, not the nerfed version in TCW), an opponent who could actually seriously test Ezra and push him to his limits, and with the first problem solved the second problem just sort of solves itself, in the process I found I had that really terrifyingly threatening villain I so wanted.
> 
> You'll find out a lot more about the dreaded Voidlord later on, I put a lot of effort into creating this character and I hope you all enjoy him later down the road. He's definitely one of my favorite creations.
> 
> And yes, his flagship was inspired by the Reapers from Mass Effect, because I love me some space death squids.
> 
> Next chapter might take a bit longer than usual, I don't know, I'm at a bit of a crossroads as to where I want to take the story right now, and I don't want to rush it, each of these chapters goes through quite a lot of work and rewrites, and I'd rather it be good than fast.
> 
> Until then, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.


	4. Displaced: Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everybody,
> 
> We're still here, and it is with great pleasure I can say reports of Star Wars: Ascendancy's death have been greatly exaggerated...
> 
> I should probably explain somewhat why this one took a while, you see, Displaced was originally supposed to be much shorter, in fact this was going to be the second to final chapter of displaced, but after reading through it, I wasn't happy with it, it felt very rushed, it felt like an afterthought (which, to be fair, it was). Initially I wasn't sure how to fix this, but after some serious brainstorming Displaced was reworked, rewritten and I think it'll be better for it, the Ascendancy will have to wait, though we will get there, and it will be worth it.
> 
> I apologise for this chapter's long wait time, but I hope the length can make up for it, at a whopping 8,700 words this is by far the longest chapter so far. It's a fairly different chapter from what I've done before, and I'm actually interested to see what the reaction is, good or bad, maybe it'll be the best chapter so far, maybe it'll bomb horribly, I don't know, but where's the fun of playing it safe? Better to try and fail than to never try at all in my book.
> 
> So without further ado... Displaced: Part 4

Ezra breathed slowly as he sat kneeling on the mat in the middle of his quarters. With all of these events hitting him left and right these past few days he closed his eyes and breathed in.. letting the force flow through him. And he relaxed as he breathed out and felt the cramped quarters slip away as he reached out and cleared his mind. With how busy he'd been on the bridge of the Chimaera for the almost two months since they had arrived in the unknown regions he had been using the force more than he had ever previously. It had been taxing on his rest and now it seemed only the force was the thing that could keep him going. Guiding his actions, helping him relax, even offering come clarity from time to time. Now as he sat he reflected on many things. This technique had been one of the ones Kanan had hoped he could have practiced every day and had nagged him about back when he had first decided to take Ezra as an apprentice. But due to how often they were on the run he had never gotten around to it. Not until now after he had lost his friends and been dragged so far away from his home and his cause had he finally found the time. With Kanan's passing a lot of old Jedi training was coming to mind.. Ezra paused and tried to hold back the flurry of emotions. Slowly breathing in. And out. He repeated this as this was part of the meditation. A meditation of emptiness, he had been told, it would help him purge his negative emotions and center himself. Ezra had always found his emotions to center him but without control he had had no way to distinguish what emotions were necessary for him to act as a Jedi. During the battle on Lothal he had a similar moment where emotion had driven him to a correct decision. (or so it had seemed at the time.) While the drive to help protect his friends more directly after the events on that planet in the Malachor system had clouded his vision for a long time due to his uncontrolled anger and hate. It had lead to so much misunderstanding and separation between him and the Ghost crew. But now, as he was here, he could be content knowing that they survived to fight another day because of him and that's all he had wanted. A future. Ezra felt himself breath in and out letting the thoughts drift from him as he moved past it for now. Listening to the hum of the engines through the back of his mind as he relaxed. For a long while his mind was empty and at peace.

As his Jedi senses reached out he felt that dark presence always surrounding them as they traveled. It had been weeks since his encounter with the Vagaari, but the events still troubled him deeply. The slave shield tactics of the Vagaari were some of the most ruthless he'd ever seen. It reminded him of years ago, his first encounter with Darth Vader, where he had ordered Tarkintown burned to try and draw the Spectres out into the open, it hadn't worked of course. Comparing the two, it was such a cleverly despicable tactic he wondered to himself why the Empire hadn't thought of it themselves yet. The Empire already enslaved Wookies for usage in the spice mines of Kessel, and with the aforementioned burning of Tarkintown, the Empire was not above endangering innocents to further it's goals, and he doubted Hera and the rest of the Spectres would have the stomach to fire on a Star Destroyer covered with those bubbles. It would've been even more effective a defence if the Empire filled them not just with innocent slaves, but captured Rebels too, and Unless Saw Garrera and his tactics had suddenly became the norm Lord Vader commanding a fleet of those could probably wipe out the entire Rebellion within a few weeks…

Ezra practically gagged, the thought sickened him, he wasn't about to start giving the Empire ideas and tried to brush it aside. Fortunately, Thrawn had seemed to have something of a sense of decency. (At least from what he'd seen these past few months) He could only hope the Vagaari never encountered the wider Empire, or else Vader and the Emperor might get much darker ideas on how to suppress them even further.

As he reflected on this the force seemed to allow these thoughts to come quickly and clearly. Was this really the power of meditation? Ezra felt himself starting to stirr out of the pattern so he relaxed. Breathing in deeply and letting the frustration out with his breath as he focused his mind on finding inner peace again. His mind drifted again later as he tried to do so. It felt odd to think of Thrawn as being the one Imperial with a sense of decency, considering just over a month ago he had been preparing himself to bombard Lothal. He was ruthless, yes, absolutely and utterly ruthless, but he wasn't bloodthirsty either. The more Ezra observed the Grand Admiral, the more his motivations and goals became a mystery. Thrawn wasn't even remotely phased by the defeat at Lothal, in fact he seemed genuinely impressed at Ezra's trick with the Purrgil. The Admiral had been civil, almost forgiving with Ezra, and was one of the only Imperials to not display some sort of animosity towards him.

Ezra breathed in then out and opened his eyes. He felt stiff and rolled his neck before slowly getting up from his kneeling position. He had time off from his duties for the next few days and looking at the chrono he had nearly spent all the day in meditation. He definitely felt a lot of the stress had left him. Like a bit of the weight of his mind had been let off his shoulders from being able to quiet his mind, and think on things he hadn't had time to otherwise. Looking around his small quarters he felt the urge to go out and walk. There wasn't much else to do here, so pressing the door release he stepped through and began walking down the hall.

* * *

 "So, where did we get assigned today?" A Stormtrooper said as he fastened on his helmet and punched in his id code, falling in line with the squad walking next to Ezra said to his compatriots. "The main shuttle bay?"

"Just came in." The Stormtrooper touched his helmet as the report flashed across his heads up display. "The _Inexorable'_ s crew had a betting pool that was just broken up. Most of the contraband being traded was confiscated and we're being sent over to let them know the Grand Admiral is watching."

"How long you suppose we'll be other there?"

"It's not a transfer if that's what your hoping." The squad leader said from the front of the group. "We'll be over for the day and take the supplies and redistribute it to the ship which is doing the best job of maintaining order."

"So not us then?" The group chuckled before the sergeant put in. "Looks like it will be going to the _Death's Head_ after all. The Admiral must want the fleet to keep some form of cohesion, he probably wants this to be a reward for obedience."

The squad turned left toward the turbolift and Ezra continued to walk the main corridor at a leisurely stroll. Occasionally there were transfers from ship to ship like that for supplies one or the other had. Crew members shifted due to work with the need to complete tasks more quickly, punishment was another as Ezra had learned when he overheard once on the bridge that a new couple had gotten too rowdy on the _Nemesis_ and started a bar fight _._ The two were separated and for the past week had been working in separate ships mess halls to pay for all the repairs. Turning the corner he passed a few technicians working on a power conduit with some assistance from an Astromech droid. Ever since they arrived in the Unknown Regions Ezra had seen quite the shift in attitude aboard the ship. Everyone went from the sort of leisure standard rounds that he had constantly encountered aboard Star Destroyers in the past to a constant state of busyness. Everyone now had something to do and the alertness of the crew bordered on paranoia from time to time. Everyone seemed to need the work whilst others simply did so out of the common obedience. But even in this state of pursuit people still managed to find the time to cut lose he thought as he spotted a few junior officers talking at their workstation. One of the Chimeras security desks meant for communication, keeping track on personnel movement, and handling sensitive information.. One was against the wall with an occasional glance, presumably keeping watch, whilst his other three compatriots had turned away from their monitors and turned their seats to talk.

"Yea and last I heard Bail Organa was officially retiring from the Imperial Senate. Apparently his daughter is going to take over for him" the junior officer in the center said.

"You mean the Princess? I heard she's a cool beauty with white hair." the one on the left said leaning back with a smile, no doubt imagining what she looked like.

"No I dont think thats what she looks like. I heard she was a brunette." The one on the far right said grimacing his face in contemplation before bringing up a hand from his crossed arms to rest his chin.

"Well whatever, Leia Organa looks like shes got some big shoes to fill for her father. Thirty one years of service in the senate. I mean sure she's sat in a few times but her father has a long track record. She'll probably just sit looking pretty while some adjutant does all the work." the junior in the center said.

Hearing the familiar name Ezra slowed his walk and got a glance from the junior officer against the wall. As Ezra got a cursory glance he simply nodded in return, then slowing from his walk he turned his head slightly to listen in.

"Got something to add to our conversation Master Jedi, Navicomputer?" One of the officers said cocking his head to the side his arms crossed and he cocked an eyebrow at Ezra. It was a common joke he heard now and again from the crew to poke fun at him for a response.

"Yeah actually, I met her once." He shrugged "Stole some cruisers from her on Lothal a few years ago. Right from an Imperial depot guarded by walkers and everything."

"What did she look like then?" The one on the left asked. Clearly interested to know. Ezra paused to think back on it all. "She was about my age, taller than me at the time so who knows now, and she had darkish brown hair. That's what I do know." Ezra finished and the one who had said white hair seemed a little disappointed. "From her attitude I got the impression that she would have been very unhappy with the depot commander for losing all of her ships like that. So she might speak her mind in the senate if there's something she doesn't like."

"Well not against the Empire I hope. Mon Mothma's defection gave the Rebellion someone legitimate to rally behind, it would cause a lot of problems if no one else takes the place of all the good leaders leaving the Imperial Senate. Then again, the Imperial Governors have most of the power now. They've managed to maintain control much better than the Senate ever has."

"That control usually comes at a price" Ezra added, "They're usually more brutal when things don't go their way. The Moffs are just stripping the Galaxy bare for the Imperial War Machine, and for what?"

"Do you know how big the galaxy is?" The officer on the right side asked, "How much space there is and planets there are that were devastated after the Clone Wars? A lot. The imperial fleet and army was built up in order to make sure that when the war ended peace would finally come to the galaxy. Between building the Imperial fleet, rebuilding almost the whole Mid Rim from the Droid General Grievous's attacks, and creating a Galaxy spanning military to enforce order would take years. If Palpatine didn't form the Empire, my parents said that the galaxy would probably have been overrun with more corruption and crime than before the war with no way to stop the pirates and dissidents who would try and overwhelm the establishment in the power vacuum."

"Chaos, absolute Chaos, What could the Republic have done?" The group turns to look to Ezra. "Your rebellion is called the Alliance to Restore the Republic right? Why would you want to do that?" Ezra paused. Never stopping to think about it like this before.

"Well.. I'm not sure." He said truthfully. "At first I didn't even know what I was getting into, I pretty much joined by accident. But after spending time with them I saw what the Empire was doing to the galaxy. They took land by force, used poison gas, stole resources, persecuted the ordinary people of the galaxy and silenced any opinion that didn't conform to their selfish tyranny." Ezra looked him dead in the eyes. "Ye,. I'm a Rebel and I fought for a galaxy where I can do what I like without being arrested, where I can see people looking to the future of their world as opposed to looking down from the weight of an Imperial boot, because a New Republic won't split the galaxy apart like the Empire has done to thousands of people and their lives. You can talk about how great the Empire is all you like. For your peace.. your Empire.. My parents died and my home suffered, that's a world that I can't live in." For a few heartbeats.. the group went silent.

"Well, that's..." They all seemed to shrink down from that. The one on the left looking down at his monitor, the one in the center pursing his lips, and the one on the right getting a little scowl from that. The one standing watch glanced over his shoulder to avoid Ezra's gaze. Feeling as though he made his point, he stepped away and went right down the corridor, his thoughts sardonic as he let them stir with the hard truth of their lives. The Empire was evil, and one day it would fall, It had to…

* * *

 "Come on now! Put your servos into it!" Ezra looked up, pulled from his musings, to see a BLX series Labor Droid crawling out of the vent with the posture of a confounded droid and another general labor model as they seemed to be working on something down the hall. As he got closer, he saw that the two were working to get a man unstuck from an access crawlway.

"Ouch! Not so hard! Ooof! Brex! Get me out of here this instant!" The man said. His voice muffled by the walls of the vent and the pile of cables that were stuck at his waist preventing him from being pulled out.

"Hmm" The BLX pondered as the other droid simply was waiting in standby mode as this all played out. "You appear to be quite stuck sir. Perhaps we should get some lubricant."

"No! Brex! Just. Just get someone to help!" The droids head looked up for assistance and its head swiveled to Ezra. "Excuse me. But my operator has gotten himself into a rather unfortunate predicament. Could I have your assistance please?" Ezra smiled at the droids blank face.

"Sure, I can do that," he told the droid, "I'll get you right out of there Sir!" He called down to the man in the vent.

"Oh thank goodness." The man's voice sounded relieved. "I thought I was a goner in his hands.." Ezra crouched down and looked at the vent.

"Looks like the wires are tangled in your belt." He reached down, untangling the wires from the man's belt, once the wires were out Ezra grabbed the man's hand, pulling him up out of the vent, the man quickly crawled out and fell back on the ground, letting out a sigh of relief followed by a nervous laugh.

"Ah aha ha.. Phew… thanks kid." He held out his hand and Ezra pulled him to his feet. Belatedly the droid next to him turned to remark. "Thank you for getting him out, he has impeded our work schedule."

"Oh I 'impeded', did I?" He stood up straight and adjusted the grey officers cap on his head. "I'll have you mind wiped personally Brex because you're the one who couldn't do anything for so long. Wait how long was I stuck?" He looked at the chrono on a work pad next to a work kit. "Your kidding.. Oh they'll have my head for this.."

"So what were you working on?" Ezra asked.

"Oh nothing.. Just rewiring the power controls for the Commodore's executive shower" Ezra's eyes went wide. "Kidding! Nah it's just the secondary power junction box for the tibanna storage system. One wrong move could have fried the system and one circuit cross would have set the whole thing off."

"Are you sure you should be messing around with that?" Ezra said, "Why didn't you let one of the droids handle that?" Looking to the BLX, who returned to him a blank look.

"It's my job to get my hands dirty." The man says pointing to his engineer patch on his uniform. "Why do you think i'm down here? Because _he..._ " Pointing to the BLX, "Couldn't figure out the problem and asked for assistance over the comm. How was I supposed to know he meant another droid?" Ezra looked to the other labor doid just standing there waiting for orders.

"My apologies Chief." The BLX crouched down and examined the diagnostic terminal plugged next to the access shaft. "Your misadventure has not caused any ill effects to my repairs." The droid closed the terminal and the other labor droid went down the hallway. The BLX moved to follow.

"Hold it right there Brex." The droid halted and turned around. "I think i'll have you go inspect the new bridge plasteel viewports. I'm not sure they were securely installed. Your going to go and spacewalk all the way and if necessary reinforce it."

"That would take time, and this delay has already put my other safety inspections behind. Wouldn't you prefer to check it yourself sir? I'm sure It wouldn't cause any more trouble than this could have caused."

"Very funny. You see what I have to put up with?" The man remarked to Ezra. "Ten years of service and even the droids can't take me seriously." He waved the droid off. "Just go on to your next inspection. I'll deal with you later." The droid turned with a nod and went to the turbolift.

"That charmer is Brex. A gift from a friend at Kuat. While they get all the new droids for the shipyards they ship out some spare droids to the rest of the fleet. Been stuck with him for two years and I still haven't found the right way to circumvent his attitude subroutine."

"And you are?" Ezra asked, trying to follow along as best he could.

"Sorry where are my manners." The man smiled and tipped his cap, "The names Ormyn, Chief Engineer of the ISD Chimera. I'm the man who makes sure everything runs smoothly from the main engine turbines down to the caf machines." Ormyn reached down to close the tool kit on the ground and picked it up, Ezra followed him down the hallway.

"Your little Jedi trick has given me quite a lot of work these past few months Mister Bridger. Fortunately the Chimaera was the least damaged of all our ships. I'd hate to imagine us at even half capacity trying to get out of this mess, not to mention that last skirmish." Ezra had gotten that impression a lot from the crew. "I was really hoping we could have found port. We need more supplies sooner rather than later." Ornym looked down at Ezra, "You haven't been out and about from what I've heard. What brings you away from the helm?"

"Time off for good behavior." Ezra chided. "I think the Admiral wants me to get my strength back up before I start moving us again. So how come I've never seen you before? Do you go on the bridge much?"

"My place these days has been in the engine room or elsewhere," Ormyn explained, "Making sure all departments are running smoothly, but I do go the bridge when more important situations demand it. I was monitoring turbolaser output from the port heavy turbolaser control room when the fighting broke out. Tec Darson has been running things from the bridge while i've been out. If I'm there on the bridge I'm in the pit checking the displays and monitoring our onboard systems."

"Doesn't that get tough on a ship this big? How do you handle all the stress?"

"Years of experience and learning how to cope. If you don't pick it up quick you soon realize everyone expects you to know all this. Luckily growing up in a shipyard helps drill all of that into you." They stopped in front of a turbolift, Ezra pressing the call button, "So you're from Lothal right?"

"Yep, and you?" Ezra replied, "Fondor. Heard of it?" Ezra pondered a bit, "Should I have heard of it?" Ornym smiled, "Oh sure, It's always like that. Everyone knows Coruscant because it's the capital. Everybody knows Kuat because it's the name slapped on every, Victory, Venator and Imperial in the Empire. But Fondor, Fondor is both in one, the perfect combination of giant cityscape and orbital spacedocks. 'We do the work and we are proud to do it', that's what my father always used to say. People these days don't seem to know much about the rest of the galaxy, they just tend to forget all the important stuff. Kuat might be the big one, but Fondor gets to make the best ships in the Empire." Ormyn reached into his tool kit and pulled out a workpad, on it was displayed the blueprints for some new type of Star Destroyer Ezra had never seen before. "Beautiful isn't she?" Ormyn said, showing a clear enthusiasm for the schematic, it was clear to Ezra this was a man who had an appreciation for ship design, "My brothers were assigned to this thing a few weeks before we left, and they managed to send me the schematics. They both work at the shipyards, the've been laying keels for ISD and escort ships for the past two years, and this baby was their biggest job yet. They said it'll be ready to launch in a few months though it would have gone faster if it weren't for your friends."

"My friends?" Ezra asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, the Rebel Alliance tried to start an uprising in Fondor city not to long ago. Instigated by some traitor I heard. Apparently Darth Vader himself brought the First Legion in and crushed the uprising."

"No one I knew ever mentioned it. I guess it was pretty bad if he got involved..." A shiver ran up his back, the memories of his encounters with Vader weren't pleasant, "I hope I never see him again.."

Onym's comm buzzed at his waist, "Tech Desa to Chief Ornym." he put down his tool kit and reached to his belt, flicking it on. "Go ahead."

"Sir I've finished up this week's quarterly report and the other sector managers have compiled everything you requested. We have our most needed, most wanted, and could haves all laid out for you to look over."

"Have it sent to my work pad and I'll review it once I get back to my office. Ornym out." The turbolift slowed and the doors opened. "Thanks for your help back there. Let's talk again sometime. Good day Ezra Bridger." He nodded, picking up his tool kit, and headed out the doors. "Any time." Ezra nodded back and the doors seal behind him.

* * *

 Pellaeon stepped into the Grand Admiral's office, while Pellaeon was officially the Captain of the Judicator, his new role as Fleet Liason meant he spent much time going between ships, and he had come over to the Chimaera personally to deliver a particularly urgent report. The room was much the same as it was when they left Lothal. Two large, reptilian statues standing proud in a display case behind the desk, and in the corner of the room stood a large slab of concrete with a bright orange Phoenix painted onto it. Thrawn was seated at his desk, swiping through a datapad, and Yohan Temmisk, the _Death's Head's_ Weapons Officer, was standing in the middle of the room, arms folded, eyeing Thrawn apprehensively.

"Admiral, the maintenance crews have finished the report you requested." Pellaeon said, eyeing the room cautiously.

"Very good, Captain" Thrawn replied, "I will be with you in a moment, Captain Pellaeon."

Pellaeon stood over to the side, looking at an old clone helmet on a stand as the Grand Admiral continued with the man at his desk, wondering what Thrawn could want with Officer Temmisk. Temmisk nervously scanned the room, his eyes darting over the various pieces of artwork littered around.

"Now, Officer Temmisk..." Thrawn wheeled his chair around, sitting back and clasping his hands together, "Ever since our... departure from Lothal, you have been making quite a name for yourself throughout the fleet. As I understand it, Captain Harbid has reprimanded you multiple times for disruptive behaviour. As a result he has asked me to personally handle you. Do you have something to add to the captains report?"

"I never said anything," Temmisk replied, almost stuttering, "Harbid's lying."

"That is a serious accusation to level at one of my subordinates," Thrawn replied evenly, "Captain Harbid has served as part of the Seventh Fleet for many years, and in all that time he has never struck me as one to slander his Officers, are you now attempting to tell me that I misjudged him?"

Temmisk struggled to answer as Thrawn stood up and paced around the room, his eyes fixating on the phoenix artwork in the corner, "since you are unwilling to explain to me as to exactly why you fail to carry out your duties as an Officer, I will instead make an... educated guess."

Temmisk was silent, face stone cold and unwilling to betray his reaction. Pellaeon passively observed the situation taking note of the tension in the young officer.

"You are a Human, a native of the Core Worlds, born to a wealthy family on Hosnian Prime, Core World Humans are a demographic known for their distaste towards non-humans. Now, Hosnian Prime is significantly less hostile to non-humans than other Core Worlds planets such as, say, Coruscant or Kuat, but your family has significant ties to Coruscant, and there exist records of such behaviours during your time in the Academy. However there exists no records of any problems with any of your superiors after your graduation. In fact, Harbid himself once praised you to me personally as a model officer, so why the sudden change in attitude?"

Temmisk was silent, reactionless.

"Do you study art, Officer Temmisk?"

Temmisk's face finally gave a reaction, the twinge of his face showing visible confusion by the sudden change in topic, "No, Sir, I don't..."

"I do, I take great interest in studying the art of the various cultures and species I encounter, I find that when you understand a planet's art, you understand it's philosophy and it's culture. Hosnians, if their artwork is to be believed, appear to hold others to a high standard. When that high standard is not lived up to they become angered, frustrated. I believe your insubordination is a combination of two factors, latent xenophobia towards my Chiss heritage and disappointment at my defeat at Lothal."

Temmisk was shocked, he would've never admitted it, but the Admiral was spot on, and though his face said nothing, Thrawn's suspicions were confirmed by his thermal vision, as it allowed him to observe Temmisk's rapidly rising body temperature. Thrawn turned away from the artwork, his attention now squarely directed towards Temmisk.

"Officer Temmisk. Your frustration with our current predicament is understandable, and you are entitled to whatever opinions you may hold about me, my non-human origins, and my failure at Lothal," Thrawn's demeanour had thus far been calm, collected and civil, but now he was beginning to glare at him, and his voice went cold.

"But your disruptive behaviour and rousing of those around you is becoming a threat to the Seventh Fleet's survival, and I cannot allow that. So I will instead give you an ultimatum, either you cease your subversive activities... or I demote you down to ensign."

"You... you can't do that!" Temmisk panicked, the Admiral's glowing red eyes glared right at him, and he could feel a calm, focused malice radiating from them, "Would you prefer that you were confined to quarters? Or a worse fate?" Pellaeon stood motionless at the exchange, trying his best to remain inconspicuous at the verbal thrashing.

"Unlike the Lord Vader I see no need to dispose of you so easily for failure. But I am fully capable of doing so should you continue to fail in your duties." Thrawn said, "By the time anybody is aware of your demise you could be nothing more than a frozen carcass floating in the void, and there will be no evidence it was anything other than an airlock malfunction."

"Sir... I..."

"You are fortunate Rukh is no longer with us," Thrawn said casually, "he was very enthusiastic in dealing with insubordination, too enthusiastic even. Had he not met his demise of Lothal he most likely would have already dealt with you by now..."

Thrawn's eyes turned back to Temmisk. The man sighed, beaten, scared and not wanting to incur the Grand Admiral's wrath, he simply nodded, "Understood sir, you won't hear from me again." With that he turned and walked out.

With the exchange over, Pellaeon walked over to Thrawn, apprehensive but impressed. He was beginning to understand why the Chiss had risen through the ranks so quickly despite not being a human. Thrawn had become known for his more open command structure, his willingness. This wasn't the brutish ruthlessness of Lord Vader, Pellaeon was thought. This particular brand of ruthlessness was swift, precise, a calculated move carefully planned and executed to maximise effect, not just on Temmisk, but on the fleet as a whole.

"You certainly scared him straight, Sir," Pellaeon finally said, "you sure he won't cause any more trouble?"

"Temmisk's xenophobia is far from dedicated," Thrawn replied, "It is a more casual form born of his familial background. He was simply scapegoating me, lashing out due to his frustration. Temmisk is first and foremost a career driven officer, his driving motivation is attaining promotions and increasing his rank. He sees this detour into the Unknown Regions as a roadblock, a wall standing in his way that will delay his progression, and at some point he started using me as a scapegoat," Thrawn sighed, almost in disappointment, "a most irrational viewpoint, harbouring resentment in situations such as this can be fatal." He turned to Pellaeon, brushing away his thoughts, "But we will not hear from him again, as mentioned before his primary concern is his career, and he cannot advance through the ranks if he is demoted and constantly insubordinate. Now, I believe you have my report?"

"Yes Sir, it's right here," Pellaeon said, handing him the datapad, "full status reports from every Destroyer in the fleet, compiled by all the Chief Engineers of all ships, down to the last bolt."

"What about the Bellicose?"

Pellaeon grimaced, "I was just about to get to that Sir, the full rundown is in the report, I'll let you read through it, it's not good."

Thrawn took his time reading every detail. Working his way down towards the Bellicose section of the report, taking a quick study of it

Thrawn took a moment to process the information, before turning back to the fleet liaison, "Captain Pellaeon, arrange a fleet meeting with all Captains and key personnel immediately. Tell them that it is urgent."

"Right away, Sir" Pellaeon replied, acknowledging the order.

* * *

 "No, no, Lieutenant. The munitions are supposed to be stored _there._ " Faro ordered.

Xoxtin was too tired to argue back. Her family were close friends to one the Emperor's best advisors, and few if any personnel had ever wanted to cross somebody with friends in such high places. Out here, in the Unknown Regions, she no longer had her family to protect her. Hell, they probably figured she was dead by now, along with the rest of the Seventh Fleet. Xoxtin herself didn't seem to care much, her mind focused on her own survival.

Faro had often found Xoxtin's pedantic habits and resulting attitude irritating, only compounded by the fact that Xoxtin wasn't used to getting told off. And when they had left Lothal, Faro was at least relieved to be able to reprimand Xoxtin without worrying about the pushback. But right now, she just felt _sorry_ for the poor girl. The Senior Lieutenant that had often clashed with Faro was slumped over, too tired to even argue back at her at this point.

"Yes... I'm sorry, Commodore, I'll go move them right away..." Xoxtin sighed in defeat, returning to her duties.

Following the Chimaera's departure from Lothal and her constant redistribution updates, Faro had noticed Xoxtin's habits slowly intensifying. The Hangar being neatly arranged as it was must give Xoxtin the relieving feeling that she at least had control over _something,_ which was her only source of comfort while stuck in a nightmarishly bad situation completely out of her control _._

Lost in uncharted space, hunted constantly by an unknown foe, nobody deserved this, not even the Rebels. Xoxtin was on the verge of snapping, at this point it just wasn't worth arguing with her.

Faro shook her head as she turned away, leaving Xoxtin to her work, arranging the hangar was certainly an oddly specific talent to have, but for what it was worth Xoxtin was good at it. Let her have her hangar, Faro thought, without it she'd probably snap anyways.

Faro walked back across the hangar, scanning her surroundings. Some binary loadlifters zig-zagged back and forth carrying crates to the loading lift for redistribution throughout the ship. Other droids beeped and buzzed while technicians, pilots, and Stormtroopers and other personnel went about their business. If she didn't know any better it would've felt like just another day in the Imperial Navy. She even spotted Captain Fel sitting on a crate rigorously debating with a tec over something. Faro smiled to herself, it was good to see the up and coming pilot's strict sense of discipline hadn't been dampened by the unusual circumstances.

Faro proceeded through the main doors down the corridor and stopped at the nearest turbolift, punching in buttons and waiting for the lift.

The lift opened up, and Faro groaned in annoyance when she realised she'd be sharing a turbolift ride with the Jedi who got them into this mess.

"Commodore" Ezra said politely while maintaining his distance.

"Jedi" Faro replied back, without a trace of enthusiasm in her voice.

It felt bizarre having a former rebel roaming about on the ship, let alone a Jedi. It almost felt like a throwback to the Clone Wars.

"You don't look too good, kid..." Faro said, turning to Ezra, immediately regretting starting up a conversation but deciding it was too late now. Ezra found it amusing that all of a sudden an Imperial was now showing concern for his well-being, "To be honest..." He wasn't sure why he was being honest with an Imperial, but he didn't have anybody else to talk to, "I'm still not entirely over what happened a few days ago, you know, with the Vagaari..." he trailed off.

Faro grimaced, she didn't like thinking about it, nobody did. Even Fel just preferred to not acknowledge what had happened with the Vagaari.

"All those innocent people just dead... how do you even fight something like that?" Ezra asked,

"I don't know, I guess you just have to go ahead with it anyway, I mean, even without the bubbles, those slaves would've still been on the ship."

"It's so ruthless I'm honestly surprised the Empire hasn't thought of it yet..." Ezra murmured under his breath.

Faro laughed in disbelief, "What? You don't actually think we're _that_ ruthless, do you?"

Her smile faded, Ezra didn't say anything, but his face said more than words ever could.

"I don't get it... why do you serve the Empire? Why does _anyone_ serve the Empire?" Ezra asked.

Faro sighed, this was going to be a long lift ride, "I could ask you the same thing about the Rebellion. Tell me, how old are you? Were you alive during the Clone Wars?"

"I was born on the day the Empire was founded actually."

Faro's eyes widened, some twist of fate that was, "The Declaration of the New Order? You were born the same day? That explains a lot actually, you basically _just_ missed the war." Faro said, "Listen, I was alive during the Clone Wars, I was only young, a child even, but I lived through it all right. And I can tell you... _nobody_ should have to live through that." Faro uttered, her eyes glancing downwards as unpleasant memories flooded to the forefront of her mind.

"I wanted peace, I wanted to make sure nobody ever had to go through what I did ever again. I wanted to bring security, stability to the Galaxy, I wanted people to be able to live out there lives never having to worry about armies of Clones and Droids descending from the skies and tearing their homes apart..."

"The way the Empire treats it's people, the way it treated _Lothal..."_ now Ezra was recalling unpleasant memories too, "that's not living, that's not peace, that's just suffering."

"Hey, between you and me..." She glanced from one side of the turbolift to the other, there was nobody around to hear what she had to say, but the Commodore wasn't going to take any chances, "I'm... not the biggest fan of the Empire myself. Personally I think if the Empire had done it's job right, Rebels like you wouldn't exist. If the governors would stop greedily stripping the Outer Rim bare maybe Mon Mothma would still be in the Senate and half the Galaxy wouldn't be rising in open revolt right now."

"Well maybe that's the problem with the Empire," Ezra said, "the fact that the Empire is allowing the Moffs to be as ruthless as they are."

"You're probably right…" she lamented, not having an argument against the Rebel, "look, I've seen the Empire, kid, and truth be told, I understand your frustration. But believe me, it's not

worth starting another Clone War." Faro sighed, nervous to even be making such a potentially treasonous statement.

"I've been in the Imperial Navy a long time, I've been all over the Empire, from the Core to the Outer Rim, and you would not believe the amount of incompetence and corruption and just outright stupidity I've seen. There are far too many people in this Empire that are where they are only because they have the right friends back on Coruscant."

Ezra was confused, he was actually empathising with an Imperial for once, it felt wrong.

"There was this Lieutenant I knew once, a friend of Thrawn's actually, and he joined the Chimaera when Thrawn took command." Faro explained, "he was a _prodigy,_ far smarter than I am, and he was probably second only to the Admiral himself. But he didn't get anywhere, his career hit stumbling block after stumbling block, and do you know _why?"_ Faro sneered, "It was because he was from Wild Space, that was it. He just happened to be born on some far off colony rather than the Core, and the Coruscant Elite didn't want to have to brush shoulders with some Wild Space yokel."

"Where is he now?" Ezra asked, showing a genuine interest in Faro's story.

"No idea," Faro shrugged her shoulders, "he just disappeared one day, nobody has any idea where he went. But I have a theory... I think he went to join the Chiss."

"The Chiss? Thrawn's people?" Ezra asked, curious about this mysterious Lieutenant from Wild Space.

"Yes. You see, the Grand Admiral's been vague about his people, but from what I can tell they seem to have sent him here as some sort of representative or diplomat. Now Thrawn was good friends with this guy, Thrawn trusted him. It would only make sense he'd send somebody back to the Chiss in return, right? And believe me, he would've been the perfect candidate."

"Maybe we might run into him when we get to the Ascendancy." Ezra said, half joking, but also half serious, "How much do you know about these 'Chiss' anyway?"

"Not much, like I said, the Admiral doesn't like to talk about it," Faro replied, "All I know is that they live somewhere here in the Unknown Regions, and Thrawn is one of them."

"Huh, well anyways I know how you feel," Ezra said, switching the subject, "about the incompetent officers I mean, I've certainly met my fair share of them."

Ezra smirked a little bit thinking about it. Konstantine, Lyste, Brom, all great minds of the Empire who had made his life all the more easier.

"You ever meet Konstantine?" Ezra asked,

"Ugh, Konstantine..." Faro said in visible revulsion, "Yeah, I remember the late great Kassius Konstantine all right, arrogant glory hound, thought he was smarter than he actually was..."

"Sounds like him all right."

"The Empire is better off without him," Faro sneered, "I've had to serve under far too many arrogant self-absorbed glory-hounds like him. If it wasn't for that idiot's ego this would've all ended on Atollon!" Faro said, before looking back at Ezra, and subsequently realising Konstantine was probably the only reason he was still alive, "err... no offence."

"None taken," Ezra said politely in response.

"I wanted to help people, you know?" Faro sighed as she leaned back against the wall of the turbolift, crossing her arms and rubbing her hand on her forehead, she hadn't been this honest with anybody in a long time, "I joined the Imperial Navy because I wanted to do good for the Galaxy, but instead it's just been a string of stupidity and incompetence and idiots..." she lamented, her thoughts dwelled on the past, on a bright-eyed, optimistic young girl, entering the Imperial Academy as a Cadet, and the years crushing her slowly under a sea of corruption, nepotism and incompetence as the weight of the world beared down on her shoulders.

"You know... if you really want to help people that badly..." Ezra said slowly, carefully considering his wording, "there is an alternative..."

"If you're going to suggest I defect like Kallus did, no." Faro said calmly but firmly, "I have my issues with the Empire Ezra, but like I said, it's not worth starting another Clone War. And besides, the Rebellion would just bring back the Republic, and if you think the corruption and ineptitude is bad now..." she stared at him with a grave look, "my planet was a crime-ridden hellhole during the days of the Republic, the Senate on Coruscant forgot about us, and then the Republic's stupidity caused the Clone Wars, and all of a sudden a massive droid army was staring down our necks..." Faro trailed off, gritting her teeth, recalling more painful memories.

"And then the Empire came, and they actually cleaned things up, they tracked down all the crime lords. They put an end to it all, ended the Clone Wars, and then they brought peace and law. I was a kid at the time, I still remember the Empire arriving, and I said to myself 'one day, that's going to be me.' I worked for years to get into the Academy on Coruscant, and then I discovered just how rotten the Empire actually was. You're right kid, the Empire is evil, but between it and the Republic, it's the lesser of two evils."

Ezra thought for a moment, letting his mind process Faro's words, he didn't know how to respond to that, he was only born after the Clone Wars, and as far as he knew Lothal had been fairly unscathed by the conflict. Ezra found himself in a position where he honestly didn't know what to say.

"And besides, I can't leave the Seventh Fleet, I have way too many colleagues here, way too many people counting on me, I can't just leave them, and to be honest, serving under Thrawn has actually given me some hope for the Empire."

"You're kidding, right?" Ezra scoffed, "the man who just a month ago tried to blow up Lothal?"

"That was the Emperor's idea, not his." Faro said defensively, "and believe me, he was _not_ happy about it."

Thrawn had indeed shown a certain level of sympathy, Ezra thought, remarking how he hadn't wanted to destroy Lothal, but at the time he thought the Admiral was mocking him, was Faro now trying to convince him he was being genuine?

"What do you mean when you say he's the best hope for the Empire?"

Faro paused, considering her words, "Because he's the first officer I've served under that hasn't been a self-obsessed Kriff, he's actually listened to my suggestions and taken them on board. The man's a genius, honestly he's probably the best military strategist the Galaxy's ever seen, and on every mission we've been on he's made it a point to minimise civilian casualties."

"What about Batonn?" Ezra said, recalling a particularly bad massacre Kallus told him about once.

"I don't know who detonated that bomb, but it wasn't him. I have my suspicions, personally I think it was that snake Pryce..."

"But he still answers to the Emperor," Ezra corrected her.

"Palpatine's an old man," Faro replied, "and one day, he'll be dead, and as a Grand Admiral Thrawn's going to have a fairly big say in who gets to run the Empire next. An Empire led by Thrawn is not an Empire where the Rebellion would be needed, trust me."

A buzz came from the comm at her waist. "This is Faro. Go ahead."

"Commodore, you're needed in the conference room in one hour." Lomar's voice reported. "Urgent fleet meeting, all command staff are required to attend. Most of the other commanders have already arrived. Also Admiral Thrawn requested you come to his quarters immediately."

"I'll be there right away. Faro out." Faro said in response, clicking off the comm. "I have to go see what the Admiral wants, we'll talk again later."

"Alright," Ezra said, waving his hand, "I'll see you later."

"Look, I don't expect you to warm up to Thrawn any time soon," Faro said, "he's ruthless, especially against his opponents, but he's not bloodthirsty, there is a difference."

"Are you sure I can't convince you to defect?" Ezra asked one more time, already knowing the answer.

"I'd rather try and save the ship from sinking then jump to the lifepods." Faro said in response.

"Well, I better go try to relax before I'm needed for more navigation." Ezra said, walking out as the lift opened up.

"Hey kid," Faro said, "For what's it worth, for Rebel Scum, you're not that bad."

The turbolift doors sealed in front of her and she redirected to the admirals quarters. Walking out of he lift and turning right she went down the corridor. With her reports in hand she waited.

* * *

 Ezra sighed, walking down the sterile corridors of the Chimaera. His thoughts dwelled on the lengthy conversation he'd had with Faro. He was relieved as he approached the door to his quarters. The room felt sterile, lifeless, and he still missed his bunk on the Ghost, but it was the closest thing to a home he had right now, and it was often his only respite from the reality of his situation.

Suddenly his senses tingled and he spun around just as the shadow crossed his vision. Ezra turned to the source, only to see a figure in vibrant crimson light armour down the hallway, his arms were hidden by the red cloak , his face was obscured by a red helmet, not dissimilar from some Mandalorian designs, the only feature on the flat, unmarked face was a single narrow, pitch black visor, that curved upwards slightly at the sides.

Ezra gulped, it was one of the Emperor's guards, he'd almost forgotten they were even on board, he hadn't seen them since their encounter in the Chimaera's storage bay.

Thrawn's crew had reluctantly begun to tolerate the Jedi's presence, mostly out of respect for the Admiral's wishes more than anything else, but the guards weren't part of Thrawn's crew, they were direct servants of the Emperor, and most likely they had a bone to pick with Ezra.

"Hey, how ya doing..." Ezra asked awkwardly, "Good to see you've made a full recovery..." he continued as he took a few steps back.

Ezra turned to the other side of the hallway, putting distance between him and the guard, only to stop as a second guard blocked off his escape.

"Look, whatever you guys want..." Ezra said, putting his hands out in an attempt to keep space between him and the Guards, "you harm me and the Admiral will have you.."

"That's the only reason you're still alive, Jedi," A voice hissed, before another guard stepped out from his room. His senses had completely missed him and his voice spoke with the authority of a commander, Ezra presumed this must be the leader. "If it were up to us, we'd make you die slowly and haul your lifeless body back to the Imperial Palace on a silver platter..." he and his compatriots surrounded Ezra, walling him in and leaving him no room to escape, they were clearly trying to intimidate Ezra. And it was working.

"But unfortunately, the Grand Admiral wants us to play nice... for now." The Guard from behind continued, "I mean personally, I would love to just kill you, Rebel Scum, or throw you out the airlock.

"What do you want?" Ezra gulped, it was at this point he realised that he'd nearly forgotten he was on an enemy ship. Thrawn had convinced his crew to tolerate the Jedi's existence, at least until they reached the Ascendancy anyway, but these three _weren't_ part of Thrawn's crew.

"Simple. We can't kill you. But we can make your stay on the Chimaera unbearable. We've got nothing better to do than kill time until we get back to Coruscant, so I think until then we'll just make your life a living hell. We can either beat you up here now or you can join us later in the training room and have a chance to fight back." They all stepped back and the two flanking the supposed leader glided down the corridor. "It has everything we need, meet us there in an hour.

Ezra struggled to maintain his composure. Three of the Emperor's best fighters were more than a match for him, and he suddenly began to desperately miss his Lightsaber.

"Thrawn's in a meeting right now, so he can't save you. If you don't show.." Ezra's only clue was a blur of motion from the guard as a vibroblade suddenly thrust into the wall beside his head, causing him to let out an audible gasp.

"Don't disappoint us, Jedi. For your sake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right... OK, so first off, I feel credit is due, and I'd like to thank the Discord user LBA_E_Ross for helping me rewrite this, I was hanging around in the Mauler Discord one day when I casually mentioned I was writing this, he offered to help out, and he's essentially my co-author at this point, this is by far the chapter he's given the most contribution to (Ormyn was his character, and he wrote the entire conversation between Ezra and the Ensigns) so thanks man, couldn't have done it without you.
> 
> To be entirely honest... I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, I tried to make a slower, more character focused chapter, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the end result. There are parts I really like, such as the introduction of Ormyn, but overall I'm a little mixed, I guess I would classify it as... an experiment? Oh well, I'll see how it's received, but if nothing else I'm glad I experimented I guess. Overall I just wanted to try and make the Chimaera crew into actual characters, give us a reason to actually care about them, try and humanise them and maybe explore some of the reasons why people might be compelled to follow a regime as monstrous as the Empire...
> 
> The one part I can say with absolute certainty I am 100% happy with is the Faro conversation. Faro was a fairly minor character in the Thrawn novels, and I've been wanting to expand on her for quite a while now. I'm fairly happy with how she turned out, I made her into this crushed idealist, somebody who entered the Imperial Navy wanting to good, genuinely believing the Empire were the good guys... only to get crushed beneath the bureaucracy and nepotism, turning into a bit of a bitter and cynical individual. I pieced all of this together with the few minor hints we got in Thrawn and Thrawn Alliances, and she's fast becoming one of my favourite characters. I also like Ormyn, he'll be a good addition to the Chimaera crew, and I have a few other ideas for personnel, but we'll get to that later...
> 
> As stated before, I'm actually fairly interested to see what the reaction to this chapter is, so feel free to leave feedback, I welcome it all, good or bad, I only ask that you try to be constructive in your critique, the whole purpose of Ascendancy was to try and advance my skills as a writer after all.
> 
> Merry Christmas everybody (or should I say Happy Life Day?), now we push forward, Chapter 5 will be out whenever, I'll attempt to get it out faster next time, I hope the quality and length of this one was worth the wait time.
> 
> And while the trip's going to take a little bit longer, I assure you, the Ascendancy is still waiting...


	5. Displaced: Part 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a good Christmas and a pleasant new year. We're still here, still doing this, I am not abandoning this story any time soon! I'll admit updates have slowed down due to holiday stuff but I'm hoping to speed up again after this. This is the beginning of a new... arc? Well anyways, I've done some serious planning and I have a good idea as to what I want to do with this story, at least for the immediate future (which was part of the reason why Chapter 4 took so long to make). I have some stuff planned, stuff I think you'll all really like, but for now... here's Displaced: Chapter 5:

"What's this.. a sword?" Ezra asked, weighing the hilt in his hand caution visible in his voice.

He examined the weapon he'd been given, it looked similar to a vibroblade, and fortunately for Ezra, the blade was similar enough to a lightsaber that he could apply most of his technique to it without difficulty.

"It's a Vibrosword," the Guard captain responded, he was standing in the sparring area with a sword of his own, the others stood guard behind him, force pikes in hand, "it's like a vibroblade, but bigger, it uses microscopic sonic vibrations to enhance the cutting power, it has the cutting power of a lightsaber, and can slice through armour, flesh and bone effortlessly. We found these in a storage room, a stash recovered from a smuggler crack-down, figured you could use them, since you're used to fighting with Lightsabers." One of the guardsmen moved forward into the training circle, Force Pike resting on his shoulder.

"You sure you want to give me a weapon this deadly?"

"I think I'll be fine." The guardsman raised his weapon and held it in a two hand grip, the tip pointed towards Ezra. "Don't worry, I have my Force Pike set to stun, it'll hurt, but you won't die."

"Why are you doing this anyway?" Ezra asked, holding his sword at the ready, steadying his feet.

"To prove that that incident in the storage room was a fluke, Jedi" the Guard sneered, "you made a mockery of the Royal Guard, the Emperor's finest, and we're going to settle the score."

Ezra activated his sword, the weapon hummed in his hands as he gripped the hilt, assuming a defensive stance, usually he fought more aggressively, but he wasn't about to take any chances with what he could only assume were the Emperor's best fighters.

"Ready when you are."

The guard approached him slowly, Force Pike at the ready, the low whirr of their weapons was the only sound that could be heard. Ezra and the Guard stood there for a few solid seconds, the blank, crimson face betraying no emotion.

With a suddenness that caught Ezra by surprise, the guard suddenly pushed his pike forward, lunging at Ezra. Ezra responded with the reflexes of a Jedi, countering the blow with his sword and attacking back. Ezra went on the offensive, making sure to prevent the Guard from initiating a counter-attack, the Guard blocked all of his attacks effortlessly, but was put on the defensive, on his back foot and backed into a corner.

Ezra couldn't believe it, it looked like the "Emperor's finest" weren't so great after all, the Guard was staggering, his footing was loose and he was beginning to lose his composure.

Ezra's thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt, when the guard completely changed stance, gripping the base of the pike with both hands, and whacking his vibroblade with enough force to knock it right out of his hands.

"What the-" Ezra muttered, startled by the sudden change of the Guard, his staggering was gone, his stance was perfectly aligned, and with the grace and speed of an apex predator the guard thrust his pike straight into Ezra's chest.

If the pike was at it's higher settings, that would've been the end of Ezra right there and then, the pike would've gone straight through his chest and impaled him, ending the Jedi, but fortunately the Guards had no intention of killing him, for now.

It still hurt though.

Ezra recoiled from the shock, the physical force of the pike hitting his chest, as well as the agonising electrical shock caused him to stumble and fall back onto the ground, curling up slightly, and clutching his chest as the current passing through him caused him to shake and his muscles twitched.

"Some Jedi _you_ are," the Guard sneered in derision, "was that it? Really? That stance you had was so laughably off I could've taken you out in one hit," the guard jabbed Ezra with the Pike once again, causing him to recoil and audibly gasp, "but I decided to play along, see what you did, and... no, you're not very good."

Ezra, his convulsions finally stopping, began to pick himself up off the floor, before the guard pinned him down again, his pike slamming into Ezra's back and as his chest slammed against the floor, Ezra audibly screamed as his limbs convulsed and failed in vain. The Guard stepped back, and Ezra was finally allowed to stand up uninterrupted.

"You know what? Honestly I'm starting to think the Mag-Locks were a bit excessive, we should've just rushed and impaled you the moment we stepped in." The Guard's voice took on an amusing tone, much to Ezra's chagrin, "I overestimated you, _Master Jedi_ ," he called Ezra with a mocking tone, "My apologies. Now, shall we go again?"

"Wait, what?" Ezra asked, startled, "you beat me, we're even now..."

"True, but like we said, we're also bored, and angry, and without any clear orders from the Emperor," the Guard sneered, "now let's go."

With no other choice, Ezra fought the Guard again, and again, and again, until he lost count of the rounds, he fought in a rotation of the three Guards, each one of them taking turns making a mockery of the Jedi's skills. Each time, Ezra lost miserably. Each time, his failure was punished with an agonising electrical shock.

"You thought you were _anything_ compared to us?" The captain explained, spectating as Ezra dueled with one of the other Guards, "Our training process was brutal. We dueled endlessly, eternally competing with each other for the honour to serve the Emperor over a bottomless pit. If we lost our footing or got knocked over the edge, that was the end. One day, the Emperor himself came, he picked out one of us, supposedly the best, and told him to spar against Lord Vader himself. Vader dispatched his opponent with ease, sliced off his hand and threw him into the pit while barely breaking a sweat. It was a lesson to the rest of us that there was always more to learn. When the time came for us to finally finish our training, we were split into pairs of two, handed double-bladed vibroswords and forced to fight to the death, the winners joined the Royal Guard, the losers _died._ " Ezra was listening, but didn't respond, too busy fighting the other guard. He'd grown to hate their voices, their sole humanising trait underneath the masks was also the most grating. "It taught us the price of failure was death, and it culled the weak, leaving only the strongest of us worthy to serve His Majesty..."

Without warning, the Guard whacked his Force Pike into Ezra's leg from behind, causing him to wince and lose his footing, falling to the ground, _again_.

"No fair!" He struggled to say through the pain, rolling slightly onto his stomach to face the Captain.

"Since when does Street-rat Rebel Scum like you fight fair?" The Guard asked in response, his partner stepping back as the captain moved to the side of the training circle to look down at Ezra. "We were trained to perfection, in the most brutal and unforgiving environment imaginable. You, on the other hand, were trained by a failed Padawan on board a pile of Corellian junk."

"Hey!" Ezra snapped, taking offense at the sudden insult of his dead master, and staggering up to match that blank expressionless gaze, he was usually calmer than this, but the humiliation and pain was beginning to wear him down, "Don't you _dare_ talk about Kanan that way..."

"You ever think maybe 'Kanan' wasn't the best teacher?" The Guard asked, Ezra stopped and thought. Kanan was a good teacher, he never would've doubted that, he had instilled the code of the Jedi in Ezra like nobody else could have, and Ezra was grateful to that. But if he was being entirely honest, Kanan was never a lightsaber master, competent yes, but even he had struggled against the likes of Vader and Maul.

"He took down the Grand Inquisitor!"

"The Inquisitors?" The Guard Captain said with an amused chuckle, "Vader's attack dogs? The Inquisitors were a failed experiment of the Emperor, he wanted to make an unstoppable army of Force Users, but instead they only turned out to be poor Vader knock-offs. So he handed them off to Vader when he got bored of them, so that the Dark Lord could use them for his dirty work, to hunt down the force sensitive kids and Order 66 survivors like you and your late master not worth his time. I hate to break it to you kid, but beating an Inquisitor is _not_ an impressive feat, no self-respecting warrior should be using those idiotic spinning lightsabers."

That's not true, Ezra thought, he'd gotten into plenty of lightsaber fights. Sure Kanan had beaten the Grand Inquisitor but he'd beaten the Fifth and Eighth Brothers and the Seventh Sister… with the help of Kanan, Ahsoka and Darth Maul.

He'd held his own against Vader on Malachor… for about a minute before Ahsoka had to save him.

He'd fought Darth Maul, right? No… no he hadn't, it was Obi-Wan who took him down. Wait, there was Rukh, right? Actually no, he'd force pushed him off a cliff and used the wolves against him…

Wait… oh no, Ezra thought, _oh no..._

His hands twitching, Ezra once again struggled to his feet, as his head processed the Guard's harsh words, a sobering realisation soon overwhelmed his mind:

This was the first time he'd ever gotten into a serious duel on his own. He'd had some skirmishes before, sure, but he'd never actually gone up against a serious opponent. The closest he'd ever gotten to a serious duel was with Vader on Malachor, and even then Vader had cast him aside with barely any effort. He was no match for Darth Maul, and even most Inquisitors had overpowered him. He was beginning to realise how much he'd come to relied on Kanan, and to a lesser extent Ahsoka.

The thought... honestly kind of horrified him, he was beginning to realise he wasn't as prepared to continue on without Kanan as he thought he was. His first serious duel was a disaster, the only reason he was still alive right now was because those Force Pikes were set to stun, if the Guards had wanted to kill him there, he would've been powerless to stop them.

"Anyways, we're done here, thanks for breaking up the monotony, if you ever want to have another round I'd be happy to go again whenever. Or we'll find you." The Guard Captain said nonchalantly.

Ezra dropped the sword and limped out of the training room turning in the direction of the Med-Bay, he had a lot of things he needed to think about…

"Well that went better than expected," one of the Guards said once Ezra had gone, "Felt good to see him knocked down a peg. We're still going to kill him, right?"

"The Emperor said to bring his corpse back to Coruscant, and that's what we're going to do." The guards circled together.

"If we don't, I don't think he'll tolerate our failure too well. But for now we need to keep him alive, he's our only chance of making a return." The Captain explained.

"Assuming we do leave this 'Ascendancy' alive," The other Guard scoffed.

"What do you mean?"

"This entire situation, it doesn't sit well with me. The Grand Admiral, I don't trust him. He pops out from the Unknown Regions, joins the Empire, rises through the ranks, and now we're working with a Rebel _and_ a Jedi and we're headed straight back to his home."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know, I'm just saying I don't trust the Admiral, or any of these 'Chiss' for that matter..."

"Then we will deal with it when the time comes." The captain replied, picking up Ezra's blade and shutting it off in a clenched fist. "And if it is treason, his rank won't save him or the Jedi, not from us."

* * *

 

Thrawn stood at the holo-projector, deep in thought. Commodore Faro stood beside him, holograms the Captains of the other ships stood in a circle lining the projector. The circle was broken by Gilad Pellaeon standing between them and listening in on the conversation:

"The _Bellicose's_ Hyperdrive is working just fine, Admiral" Captain Aban said, "but the coolant leak we sustained at Lothal is finally starting to catch up with us, we can continue jumping, but with our depleted coolant there's a serious risk of the engines overheating and failing."

"And with your engines failing you will no doubt be easy prey for the Far Outsiders..." Thrawn grimaced.

"We'll need to continue at a reduced speed, to lower the risk of the Bellicose's engines breaking," Pellaeon said, "and we'll need to find some way of replenishing the ships coolant supply."

"Sir, with all due respect, we can't afford to slow down" Captain Telan of the _Inexorable_ chimed in, reluctance creeping into his voice, "I say if the Bellicose continues to be a hindrance we just leave the ship behind _._ Or at the very worst scuttle her."

"What!?" Captain Aban said angrily, clearly offended by the suggestion, "You can't be suggesting we just abandon an entire ship out here!"

"Yes we can!" Telan said, turning to the Grand Admiral, "if these Far Outsiders of yours are as dangerous as you say they are we can't afford the risk of them catching up to us!"

"So that's it!? You're just going to leave it here!?" Aban yelled angrily, lashing out from his dire circumstances.

"Oh come on now, Aban, we can either lose one Star Destroyer, or we can-"

"Both of you! Be Quiet!" Pellaeon yelled, his thunderous voice silencing the feuding Captains instantly, "Captain Aban, Captain Telan, both of you are Officers of the Imperial Navy! And I expect you to act as such!" His eyes glared at them, furious in his disappointment, "It turns my stomach to see two Captains of the Empire bicker in such a manner!"

Pellaeon cleared his throat, calming down now that he had their attention, he had no need to regain his composure as he had never lost it. Captain Telan and Captain Aban were both frozen with fear, not daring to anger Pellaeon again. "I will not see Captains of the Imperial Navy turn on each other like a pack of Slice Hounds, is that clear?"

Telan gulped, "But Sir..."

"We will _not_ be leaving the Bellicose, Captain Telan. Is, that, clear?" Pellaeon said, his voice calm, but firm.

"Yes Sir." Telan said, backing down.

Pellaeon cleared his throat. As Fleet Liaison he had had to settle more than one petty argument between Captains, and he was beginning to understand why exactly Thrawn had given him the position. While he was a recent addition to the Seventh Fleet, his navy career extended all the way back to the Clone Wars, and Pellaeon commanded an aura of respect and authority few other Imperial personnel did, it was obvious the Grand Admiral had decided said aura would be integral to holding the Seventh Fleet together through it's long journey to the Chiss Ascendancy.

"Then we shall bring forth the proposals from the Bellicose engineers." Thrawn continued. "Captain Pellaeon please continue the briefing."

"Yes sir ,our current supplies have managed to maintain our ships immediate repairs but with the issue of the Bellicose's engines it is recommended we begin searching for the necessary materials to try synthesizing the coolant, our best options would be to begin sending out probe droids immediately. Searching the nearby systems and keeping the fleet in the vicinity until the probes have completed their survey, we should also have the TIE Defender Squadrons on standby for launch to investigate their reports, and we may need them for further observation. I would not like to risk these assets Admiral, but considering the situation we should utilize everything at our disposal to keep the Bellicose in service."

"Agreed Captain. We shall begin making arrangements immediately. Convene in three standard hours." Thrawn signaled a tech and they keyed the information to the other ships. "All of you are dismissed," Thrawn ordered, "Except for you, Captain Pellaeon, I would like to have a word with you and Commodore Faro."

Thrawn, Faro and Pellaeon waited for a moment while the other captains ended transmission. Now only the Grand Admiral, Faro and Pellaeon were left in the conference room.

"What is it you wanted Sir?" Faro asked.

Thrawn's face held a grave look, "as you are both no doubt aware, Far Outsider ships have been tracking us since we arrived in the Unknown Regions..." It was something Faro didn't like to think about, but they were indeed still being stalked by the mysterious bioships. The biological terrors were still following them constantly from the sidelines. Faro still felt uneasy whenever the sensors picked up one lurking just out of view. Part of her wanted these mysterious creatures to just attack already and get it over with.

"I have been studying the Fleet's behaviour, and it is most unorthodox for the Far Outsiders."

"Is it? I'm sorry Sir, I don't really know how exactly these Far Outsiders are supposed to act."

"The Far Outsiders are creatures that crave battle, they are a highly aggressive species that revel in combat, and yet they have refused to engage us at any point. Time and time again, they have refused to fight us directly, instead they simply observe us with a passive curiosity..."

"Clearly it's some kind of outlier," Pellaeon suggested, "Somebody who's smarter than his ilk, a Far Outsider clever enough to not fight an unidentified fleet without knowing what it can do."

"Correct, Captain Pellaeon, and unfortunately I think I may know who exactly this outlier is..." The look on Thrawn's face told Faro and Pellaeon just how serious this situation was, "...I believe we are being tracked by the _Voidlord."_

"The 'Voidlord', Sir?" Pellaeon asked.

"He is a notorious pirate, infamous even among his own kind, his armada has done battle with all the powers of the Unknown Regions, and the Chiss have clashed with him on multiple occasions..." he explained, his forehead creased in thought.

"So this 'Voidlord', he's not like the other Far Outsiders?" Faro asked.

"He is intelligent, patient, calculating and cunning. He has no desire for conquest, only destruction and death concern him. He does not subjugate planets or build empires, him and his fleet simply burn worlds, robbing them of their wealth and razing what's left to the ground."

"And now this creature is hunting us like animals..." Pellaeon muttered, disgusted that this creature would view an Imperial Fleet in such a condescending manner.

"You seem very familiar with this 'Voidlord', Admiral," Faro pointed out, "This sounds like more than just textbook encounters."

The Grand Admiral breathed in, "I encountered him myself once. It was many years ago, when I was a Junior Officer within the Expansionary Defence Force..." Thrawn trailed off, looking as if he was recalling unpleasant memories.

"Every planet within his sights he has laid waste to, and although he has been unable to penetrate the dense fortifications on the border of the Ascendancy his fleets are an ever present threat. He is a constant looming presence, both to the Chiss and to anybody else unfortunate enough to stand in his sights. I have seen what he is capable of first hand. The Voidlord is not to be underestimated, we must proceed with _utmost caution..._ "

"Well then we should reach the Ascendancy as soon as possible, Sir." Pellaeon said.

"Indeed, Captain," Thrawn replied, "The Voidlord has refused to engage us so far, but it remains to be seen how long he will continue to do so."

"I'll deploy the probe droids right away," Faro said, changing the subject away from the mysterious pirate lord tailing them, "if this Voidlord is as dangerous as you say he is, then we need to get moving, _now_."

"And I'm going to get back to keeping the fleet from tearing itself apart, with your permission Admiral I will return shortly to continue the supply update. ".

"Very good captain. You are dismissed." Pellaeon nodded and left the conference room. "One more thing, Commodore." Thrawn said, "I would like you to consult the ships database and personnel files, I require certain key personnel in the fleet be reassigned for any outbound teams, those who know Sy Bisti and Minnisiat. are I would like to have them work putting these languages into our translator droids."

"Are these languages that important sir? We have yet to encounter something that isn't trying to kill us."

"They are trade languages utilised by some in the Unknown Regions. If we encounter creatures that speak these language it would be most beneficial if we could communicate with them." Thrawn keyed the monitor and began looking through the tech reports from the engineers. "As Captain Pellaeon said we will soon need all the resources we have at our disposal."

"I'll see what I can do, Sir." Faro said as she exited the projector room, her mind squarely focused on this so-called 'Voidlord'...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, poor Ezra.
> 
> Some of you might be a little shocked by how weak Ezra is actually proven in the duel, but rest assured I did go back through all of Rebels and... yeah he's fairly low on the pecking order. The only really big one-on-one lightsaber duels within Rebels were Kanan Vs The Grand Inquisitor, Ahsoka Vs Vader and Obi-Wan Vs Maul, none of which included Ezra, he had fought Inquisitors but I can't really recall him beating any of them on his own. Closest he's gotten was that one fight with Rukh where he force-pushed him off a cliff and then threw wolves at him, and the Royal Guards as demonstrated here were a massive fluke. Ezra seems to survive mostly by fighting dirty, which makes sense considering his background and lends itself well to the type of hit-and-run guerrilla tactics the Rebellion employs, but it's not going to help him against the countless horrors of the Unknown Regions, and this fight with the guards was him learning that the hard way.
> 
> I'll be entirely honest, I absolutely hate the Inquisitors (hence the Royal Guard dismissing them as "Vader's attack dogs"), I liked the Grand Inquisitor but then he dies and every Inquisitor after him is just plain bad, the only saving grace really was Vader (and he was awesome to be fair. And dear GOD the spinning lightsabers, ugh, Dave I love you man but helicopter lightsabers? What were you thinking!? It was really stupid, and I don't imagine the Inquisitors are too high up in the Imperial Hierarchy, I doubt they see much action with Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka being the only real Jedi (I use the term "Jedi" loosely in Ahsoka's case, also Obi-Wan and Yoda are in hiding and I doubt they'd have much trouble against these goons, Luke doesn't come along until later) active post Order 66. I can't really see Team Rocket doing much during the Dark Times other than hunting down Order 66 stragglers or finding force sensitive children while Vader (and maybe the Emperor's Hands if our Mouse overlords are generous) do the heavy lifting. Point is we have yet to see the Inquisitors win against an actually formidable opponent, and as much as I love Kanan I doubt even beating the Grand Inquisitor was much of an accomplishment. *Sigh*, I miss Jerec...
> 
> Oh yeah and the meeting. Yeah, remember the dreaded Voidlord? He's still a thing. Again, I don't want to say too much about him but I hope you all like him, he's an antagonist I've put a lot of thought into.
> 
> I'd also like to thank LBA_E_Ross again for not only editing and proofreading this chapter but also for recommending Crimson Empire, a Legends comic about the last of the Emperor's Royal Guards hunting down a traitor. It's really good overall and I highly recommend it, and it gave me a lot of valuable insight for writing the Royal Guard here (the Captain's monologue is a direct reference to events depicted in said comic), and honestly it's just a really good comic. It was also cool reading some SW material with some actual bite to it, some bite I'm hoping to add to Ascendancy now that we aren't constrained by Disney XD rating limitations.
> 
> I admit these past two chapters have been fairly slow, with not much happening. But I can assure you this is where the story picks up again. I've already started writing the next chapter and I'm very excited to share it with you all.
> 
> Until next time.


	6. Displaced: Part 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone! Sorry for the wait, we're back with another chapter!
> 
> Now I don't want to say too much about this next chapter (or couple of chapters), other than I do understand that the other chapters were rather slow, I wanted do some character building, and just examine how everybody is reacting to their present situation, but I've done that now, and I wanted something to actually happen, here you go, the boring stuff is over, this is the good part, this is the part where shit goes down (or starts to anyway).
> 
> I don't want to say too much this time around, I'd rather let this whole part just speak for itself and I don't want. But... I've brought back another Legends species (if you can even call it that), it's not the Celaphids (they're my own creation but you'll see more about them in a bit), it's something else, something I've wanted the Disney canon to utilize for quite a while now but they just haven't. Basically, how this works is I have a big list of stuff that was in the Unknown Regions in Legends, like the Vagaari or the "Far Outsiders", and whenever I feel the story needs a special "something" I go through that list and see if there's anything interesting in there. I found I was failing to make this chapter interesting, it was just a boring "go get the coolant" mission, it felt like a video game sidequest. I hated it, I wasn't happy, and part of the reason this chapter took so long was because I hit a creative wall, so I went looking through my little deck of Unkown Regions stuff and I remembered that for a while I had wanted to use this, and then I proceeded to cackle maniacally as I realised what I was about to do. There's a few hints here and there as to what exactly it is, but I'll see if anybody actually knows what this thing is, it is one of my favourite elements of Legends, and neither canon has ever done anything with it, it was just sort of introduced and left to rot. I had a lot of fun writing this, I'm having a lot of fun writing the next chapter right now. Without further ado... Displaced: Chapter 6, I think you'll enjoy this one...

"Admiral, the first reports from our probe droids have come in. One of them looks extremely promising."

Faro inserted a data card into the desk holoprojector, and on to the display came an image of an asteroid field, large chunks of rock floated from side to side, but the centre of the image was a particularly striking object, a large, silver ship. Marooned in the asteroid field, it's elegant Chrome exterior was pelted with dark spots and yet shining against the void.

"I recognise that ship." Thrawn said,

"You do?" Faro asked.

"It's configuration is unique but it's design ethos is familiar." Thrawn replied, "It is similar in design to ships that were quite a disturbance to the Chiss. This a ship of the Celaphid syndicates. They are a reptilian species who operate a sizeable criminal organization within the Unknown Regions."

"So... sort of like the Hutts then?"

"Similar, but the Celaphids would view the Hutts as uncivilized by comparison, decadent barbarians, and they would no doubt take great offense to that comparison. But yes, you could compare them to the Hutts in terms of the size of their criminal empires. What is the vessels status?"

"Scans from the probe droid have indicated that the ship has taken heavy damage and that several escape pods have been jettisoned but it does appear that the engine compartment is intact. So it's likely that it still has an ample coolant supply."

"Excellent Commodore." Faro nodded as he keyed off the monitor and withdrew the datacard, handing it back to her. "Very well sir, I'll begin drafting up a retrieval mission."

"We can fly the Chimaera to the edge of the asteroid field, then send a DX-9 troop carrier into the field with some stormtrooper squads and a tech team to board the ship and extract the coolant, we can use the TIE Defenders as an escort to help it navigate through the asteroids." Faro said.

"Very good Commodore. Inform Captain Ayer and Chief Ormyn of the discovery, and have them prepare their teams immediately," Thrawn ordered, "and tell the Captain that I need to speak to him. I'll be sending something important with him."

"Yes Sir, what is it?"

"Our resident Jedi. you will contact him personally and bring him here. I shall need to speak with him too."

Faro paused, wondering why Thrawn wanted to speak with Ezra, but instead of asking she simply nodded, deciding to go ahead with the order.

"I'll do that right away sir."

* * *

 

"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Ayer said, stepping into the room and looking around.

"Yes, I did Captain Ayer."

Commodore Faro was studying the projector, which was now displaying a full holographic model of the so-called "Celaphid" ship they'd just found. The resolution had been cleaned up by the sensor teams over the past few hours, and on closer inspection it was a more sizeable vessel than the first images had lead her to believe. It was roughly the size of a Victory-Class Star Destroyer. It's curved rolling hull reminded Faro of Mon Calamari vessels, and it's silver-chrome hull was reminiscent of the equally elegant ships used by Naboo royalty.

Faros attention was soon caught by the noise of the door opening again, and she glanced over to see Ezra walk in, immediately noticing and examining the ship projection in front of them.

"This... doesn't look like another bioship." Ezra said, his sentence acting both as a statement and a question.

"You are correct. No, it belongs to another species indigenous to these regions." Thrawn replied, "one of our probe droids located this ship within a nearby asteroid field, and scanners indicate that the engine section is largely intact with several supplies and needed equipment on board."

"Do you have any idea why the ship is adrift?" Ezra asked.

"I have been studying the images, asking myself that very same question." Thrawn replied, he reached down and keyed the holoprojector to zoom in on an area of the ships hull.

"The ship belongs to a criminal organisation known as the Celaphid syndicates," the Admiral explained, "and these markings on this section of the ship appear to have been inflicted by Vagaari weaponry. The probe scans indicated a large cargo hold, and the heavy armour and weaponry on the ship suggest it was carrying some form of highly valuable cargo. The most likely scenario is that this ship was a flagship or otherwise important vessel belonging to a Syndicate leader when it was ambushed and attacked by Vagaari raiders. Outnumbered, and in their haste, the crew of this ship performed a poorly planned hyperspace jump and ended up arriving into this asteroid field after which it has since drifted deeper within. As for the crew, I would presume they entered the escape pods and have since perished in the field."

"You were able to get all that from just observing the wreckage?" Ezra asked, stunned by Thrawn's deductive reasoning.

"Many things can be deduced by simple observation. To be quite honest it often disappoints me how others don't notice these details."

"So if there's coolant there I presume we're going there to retrieve it, Sir?"

"You presume correctly, Captain." Thrawn said, before turning to Faro, "Commodore, please explain the plan for the retrieval mission to Ayer."

"Yes Sir," The Commodore said, her attention drawn away from the unfamiliar ship. "The ship is located within this asteroid field. So, we'll take the Chimaera, fly it to the edge of the field, and from there, we can send a DX-9 troop transport into the field to board the ship. A squadron of TIE Defenders will be deployed to clear the way for the transport. Once the ship has docked, the Stormtroopers will be split into three squads. Squad one will pursue the primary objective of going to engine room and securing the needed coolant supply. We do have some secondary objectives for the other Squads two and three. Squad two is to move up to the bridge, and recover any of the navigational logs, as well as any star-charts from the nav computer, it could prove useful in navigating uncharted space. Squad three is to go down to the cargo bay and see if you can salvage anything useful. If the vessel is deemed to have anything else of value after you retrieve the primary objective we shall consider whether to start a full salvage operation then be underway."

"Simple retrieval mission" Ayer said to himself, "Go in , get the coolant and scour the ship for anything else useful. Alright, I think my men can handle that."

"There is one more thing." Thrawn said, "The reason I called you here, Bridger, is because I would like you to go as well."

Ezra snapped to attention, suddenly aware the room was focused on him, he actually was beginning to wonder why exactly he was here. "Any particular reason?"

Thrawn sighed "It is a risk, the loss of our navigator could be potentially disastrous, but I'm afraid your Jedi abilities will be needed to help navigate through the asteroid field."

"Alright... but if we meet anything hostile once we're on the ship, I'm not sure what help I can be. I left my lightsaber back on Lothal, and I'm not much use without it."

Thrawn paused for a moment, pondering his next words, "I am, in fact, in possession of a lightsaber. The weapon of your deceased master, Kanan Jarrus."

"What!?" Ezra asked, shocked that Kanan's lightsaber had been here this whole time, it would've definitely been useful, "you've had it this whole time?"

Thrawn nodded, "Indeed, I had Governor Pryce hand it over to the Seventh Fleet while I was away on Coruscant. It was on the Death's Head when we... 'left' Lothal. I was planning on adding it to my collection but at the moment it is clearly of more use in your hands."

Ezra grimaced. Internally he was irritated that the Grand Admiral was going to treat Kanan's lightsaber as a mere curiosity, but there was a time and a place to raise these issues and now wasn't it.

"I'll go and prepare my men for the mission." Ayer said, turning towards the door. Brushing past Ezra before he similarly turned to leave.

"One last thing, Commodore." Thrawn said, "When we arrive at the asteroid field, send out a patrol squadron to do a reconnaissance sweep of the area. There may still be Vagaari in the area and I don't want to risk an encounter with any Far Outsiders lurking nearby, this mission is too important to risk them jeopardising it.

"I'll do that right away, Sir." Faro said.

* * *

"Control, this is Delta-1. We are ready for take-off."

"Acknowledged Delta-1 you are cleared for launch."

The DX-9 transport designated "Delta-1" engaged it's engines, dropping down from the vehicle storage bay and out the hangar door, gently gliding out of the Chimaera's launch bay before speeding up and flying out from underneath the warship, a flight group of three TIE Defenders accompanying it in an escort formation.

The DX-9 Stormtrooper transport was fairly plain in appearance, sporting a featureless grey hull, and doors for unloading troops situated at both the front and back of the craft. Two large struts at the top of the craft combined together a set of missile pods and sub-light engines. Overall it was the closest thing the Empire had to the LAAT gunships used in the Clone Wars, and being far more nimble than a Sentinel-class shuttle it was chosen to navigate the asteroid field. The ship contained a full passenger bay, capable of holding up to 30 passengers, but right now it was home to three full squads of Stormtroopers and a few dozen techs, two cockpit compartments were located on either side of the front ramp, strapped into the one on the right was an Imperial pilot, and strapped into the other, rather unusually was a Jedi.

Ezra leaned over in his chair, ignoring the Stormtroopers lined behind him. He stared down at the lightsaber in his hands intently. It felt... odd, holding his master's lightsaber again. He felt like he had no right to use it. It felt wrong utilising such a weapon, but unfortunately he'd made the mistake of leaving his lightsaber with Sabine on Lothal, and he was seriously beginning to regret that decision.

Lothal, heh. He missed his homeworld. In the few short months he'd been out here, so much had changed, so much was different. Things were so much simpler just a few months ago. It was him, the Spectres and the Rebellion vs the Empire, that was it. Now here he was, Kanan was dead, he was lost in an unknown part of space, forced to work with his mortal enemies just to survive, and now it wasn't just Rebels vs Empire anymore, there was a third party to consider: the elusive Far Outsiders which Thrawn kept alluding to. Were these creatures really that bad? Were they really worse than the Empire? Some part of Ezra just wanted them to show themselves already, the other didn't. When orchestrating his master plan Ezra figured he would do away with the Seventh Fleet, and the Rebels would go on fighting, but the introduction of the Far Outsiders had changed everything, the threat Thrawn claimed they posed had proven to be quite the wildcard.

No, Kanan would understand, a Jedi's usefulness was seriously hampered without a lightsaber, and Ezra doubted Kanan would object to him using this one if he was left with no other choice.

Would he though? What would Kanan make of all this anyway? How would he react in the situation Ezra now found himself in? How would any of the Spectres, the Rebels react if they found out a third party was now present? Would it be worth co-operating with the Empire? Would the Empire, in turn, be willing to cooperate?

Other matters troubled him, particularly his abilities as a Jedi, the humiliating defeat and harsh words of the Royal Guards still lingered in his mind. The Inquisitors had seemed to be such a monumental threat, and now here was a direct agent of the Emperor telling him they were nothing. It was only now he realised him and Kanan had never actually been a match for most of their opponents, it was only now he'd realized how low on the pecking order he really was. The crushing defeat was the final straw, it had caused Ezra to fall into a spiral of defeatism, seriously doubting his own abilities. Kanan had taught him everything he could, but the fact of the matter was Kanan himself never finished his training. Ezra was probably at the lowest he'd ever been at, and he had no idea where to go from here. He was never able to beat Vader, he hadn't been able to beat any of the Inquisitors, and even Maul was eventually defeated by Obi-Wan, the fact of the matter was that he was no match for... well anyone really, he'd only survived this far thanks to the Spectres, and now he couldn't rely on them anymore. Why was Thrawn even interested in recruiting him anyway? Ezra had struggled against Inquisitors, he'd utterly failed against the likes of Vader and Maul, Kanan had died before he could finish his training, and if the Far Outsiders were really as dangerous as Thrawn claimed they were, what could he possibly do to stop them?

He also didn't look forward to being enemies with the Imperials again, a few of them were genuinely good people, namely Faro and Ormyn, and it was going to be hard to avoid thinking about that when this is all over. The Empire itself was evil, but Ezra was beginning to realise there were people in it who weren't. Ormyn didn't care for politics, he simply needed a job and had a talent for ship design, Faro on the other hand genuinely believed she could change the Empire from the inside for the better.

Ezra sat back, the straps around his seat protecting him from the occasional bump for when the ship entered the field. For the past five years he'd had a concrete goal: liberate Lothal, and now that that was over he wasn't sure what he was going to do. His only option at this point was to just keep moving in his current direction, and hope that the force would be with him.

He glanced behind, most of the Chimaera's Stormtroopers simply didn't acknowledge him. Seated in rows beside and across from him, they were too busy checking their blasters or other equipment and what few glances he did get were obscured by the helmets. There were some murmurings but nothing Ezra could single out.

"Jedi, you there?"

It was the other pilot, seated in a separate compartment, the two had to speak using comm devices.

"Yeah… yeah I read you loud and clear." Ezra said, snapped out of his thoughts abruptly.

"Good, listen, I'm going to do most of the flying, you just do whatever it is you Jedi do and warn me of any incoming asteroids I can't see out my window, got it?"

"Alright, I can do that."

* * *

"Delta-1, this is Captain Fel" a comm in the cockpit said, "We're entering the red zone of the field. We'll cover you as best we can but be ready for any incoming objects and prepare for evasive maneuvers."

"Acknowledged, Defender 1, we're moving towards the target zone now."

The TIE Defenders glided gracefully through the field. Soontir Fel and his men blasting away at the asteroids, banking left and up past the transport to blast an incoming asteroid to harmless dust. Winding back and kicking into thrusters Fel took aim as another large chunk came at them and green bolts of energy were launched left and right from his wingmen, reducing the chunks of rock to harmless particles of dust. The transport didn't have to move much, thanks in part to the cover provided by the Defenders, and only needed to make the occasional adjustment to maneuver past incoming debris.

It wasn't long until the target came within sight, the Celaphid ship was hard to miss. It's chrome exterior was just as magnificent in person as it was on the briefing room projector.

"Defender leader, we've moved around to the main hangar on the bow and are moving in now ."

"Excellent work, Delta-1." Fel said, "We'll be waiting here until you're done."

"Flight Control Chimaera, this is Captain Fel, the transport has successfully made it through the field and boarded the ship."

Back on the Chimaera's bridge the Chief flight commander acknowledged and then stepped aside for his commanding officer.

"Defender 1 this is Commodore Faro, excellent work. Move to a safe distance and await the transport's exit."

"Copy that. Defender 1 out."

Faro breathed a sigh of relief. Half of this operation was getting into the asteroid field, and it had gone off without a hitch. If the rest of the operation went this well they would have their coolant in no time.

* * *

As the hanger hatch sealed and the shuttle touched down the Stormtroopers marched out first, flanking the hatchway together, blasters at the ready covering them. Their helmet overlay scanned for targets and data rolled across their heads up displays. The ship may have been abandoned but in the Stormtrooper Corps a trooper learns to never let their guard down. Ezra walked out behind them and squinted at the surrounding hangar. It was far too dark to actually see anything. The lighting had clearly failed, but fortunately life support still seemed to be intact. The Stormtroopers shone their torches from wall to wall, returning light to the hangar. Ezra took out his (or rather Kanan's) lightsaber and ignited it.

In it's prime, the hangar bay would likely have looked beautiful, the bright chrome walls were covered in elaborate swirling patterns, designed so the eye would naturally roll along them from end to end. Various figures and silhouettes, much of them Serpentine in appearance, were carved into the metal. It looked more like an art gallery than a hangar bay. Whoever designed this ship clearly had a fondness for aesthetic and Ezra could only imagine what it would've looked like at it's peak. As it was now though, the patterns almost seemed to hide from Ezra's sight in the dark as if they didn't want to be seen. The technical crew that had been on board walked out into the hanger with their gear and some hoversleds.

"Alright Troopers! Form up!" ordered Captain Ayer. Ayer was now full stormtrooper attire, an orange Captain's pauldron with the mark of the Chimaera draped across his shoulder, "We'll split into three Squads, Squad 1 will proceed to the rear of the ship and attempt to procure the coolant supply from the main engines. Squad 2 will proceed with me to the bridge and attempt to procure whatever information we can from the flight computer, as well as search for any other priority targets from the main computer. Squad 3 will secure the hangar then proceed down to the cargo bay and recover anything useful."

The Troopers split into squads of nine, each one headed by a Sergeant. "Jedi, you're with me, we're going to the bridge." Ayer said with as much hospitality as he could muster for a Rebel.

Ayer and Ezra took point, leading the rest of the squad through the long winding corridors and up towards the bridge. Ayer shining the way with his torch from the front of his blaster, Ezra holding his lightsaber as the familiar blue light illuminated the room. The corridors were just as elaborately decorated as the Hangar, with the same long winding patterns, and even the occasional dried up fountain.

Ezra and the Stormtroopers eventually found a broken terminal, flashing with a partial map. It was in a language they didn't understand, but the map was intelligible nonetheless, and they found were about halfway towards the bridge. They had resumed their walk for a few paces when Ezra stopped for a moment. A loud squelching noise meeting his ears as his foot met the floor.

He stopped and looked down to find that his foot had landed in a puddle of what appeared to be a thick, gray ooze. He crouched down, examining the substance, and immediately, his senses were bombarded with a sickeningly sweet aroma emanating from the puddle. It reminded Ezra of an overripe meiloorun, and he had to turn his head away and breath in some air.

"Excuse me Jedi, are we going?" Ayer asked, looking down at him.

Ezra looked back up, "Yeah, sorry. Let's go."

As they continued through the corridors Ezra began to notice more and more of the puddles. The gray slime gradually increasing in quantity until large parts of the floor were smeared with the strange substance, and with more slime, came more of the disgustingly saccharine scent, stronger and stronger.

"Oh, Yuck" One of the techs said, wincing at the smell. "What is this stuff?" Ezra asked.

"No idea, don't really care. As long as it doesn't interfere with our mission it's none of our concern." Captain Ayer said in response. Ezra couldn't tell if Ayer's apathy came from the fact that his helmet was probably shielding him from the smell, or if the Stormtroopers just naturally had a blunt and boring mindset.

* * *

The bridge, much like the rest of the ship, was a very form-over-function structure, almost comically so. More of the elaborate patterns lined the walls, a large throne overlooked the consoles and controls of the ship, and the whole command level of the ship looked more like a monarch's court than any standard command bridge.

"This is Squad 2, we have reached the bridge, Squads 1 and 3 have you finished your respective missions yet?" Ayer asked over his comm.

"Squad 3 here. Hangar bay is clear we're now moving to investigate the cargo hold." Ayer's comm beeped and clicked it to the next channel.

"Yes Captain Ayer, this is Chief Engineer Ormyn." Ormyn said, "our team has successfully reached the engine room. Brex is just in the middle of removing the coolant and preparing it for transport. I have a few of my other men stripping cabling and other equipment as well. We should be back at the Delta in no time."

"Excellent work. Try not to take to much and proceed back to the transport, we'll join you once we're done here."

Ayer put away his comm, thankful that the primary objective of this mission was going off without issue so far. He turned to the engineer. "Alright, engineers, we'll let you get to work."

The Engineers walked over to the console, torches illuminating the buttons and controls. Examining it and making sense of the complex set-up.

"Whoever was in charge of this ship abandoned it in a hurry..." One of the Engineers remarked as he examined the controls, "I wonder what caused them to leave so fast?"

The Engineers got to work, as the Stormtroopers and Ezra idly glanced around, taking in the details on the bridge. It wasn't long before terminals buzzed to life, and streams of information ran along the monitors.

"Chief Engineer, we've got access to the ship's main computer. We've got the ships layout, flight logs, star charts and everything... but I'm afraid it's in a language we don't understand."

"Probably the language of the people who built this ship." Ormyn said over the comm, "alright, transmit the data back to the Chimaera."

"And send the other groups the ships layout. It will make it much easier for them before we're done here." Ayer added in behind the tech as he holstered his blaster and began looking over the ships map for other points of interest.

"Yes Sir, right away." The engineer began to work away at the console, setting it up for transferring the data back to the Chimaera.

* * *

Officer Kalgen stood guard as two engineers attempted to slice through the door controls. Scans had indicated this room was particularly large, and was most likely to be the main cargo hold or a storage room of some sort. Kalgen waited for a moment, letting the engineers work, and finally stepped through as the door was carved up and thrown to the ground.

Kalgen's jaw almost hit the floor. This wasn't just a mere cargo hold, it was a treasure room. So this was what the Vagaari wanted, and what the Celaphids didn't want them having. Gold and Jewels and trinkets galore littered the room. Crates were knocked over, valuable treasures spilling onto the floor in a tidal wave of riches.

"Captain Ayer, we're in... you're not gonna believe what's down here, it's a full on treasure room sir!" Kalgen chuckled in amazement. The troopers and engineers poured in, similarly transfixed by the riches.

"Disregard that, Officer, is there anything practical? Anything worth hauling back to the ship?"

Kalgen rolled his eyes under his helmet. Ayer was notoriously to the point, but he did have one. They did have a job to do here after all.

"I'll get back to you once the engineers have done a sweep of the room, Kalgen out."

Kalgen idly looked around, letting his helmet cam record everything while waiting for the engineers to finish their work. He was amazed, he could probably take even just one of these treasures, sell it off somewhere, and have enough to retire to Alderaan or Cantonica and live in relative comfort for the rest of his life. His men, with nothing better to do, idly gawked at the impressive hoard in a similar manner, and murmurings of retirement echoed throughout the room.

"Find anything useful?" An engineer asked, he was far from Kalgen, on the other side of the room. The two men, dressed in their engineer uniforms, were scouring through the hold for riches of a different sort.

"Lots of gold, lots of jewels, some artwork, but nothing that could actually be of any usage." The other replied, dreams of wealth tended to be relegated to the back-end of one's mind when lost in uncharted space.

The engineer walked down through the boxes, until he stopped. "Wait..do you hear something?" His attention focused on a loud and noticeable dripping noise.

Drip... drip... _drip_... The engineer followed the noise, finding himself staring at a large tank, the kind used to store fuel or other liquids. It was heavily reinforced, it looked fitted to resist even a turbolaser. The engineer looked down, his eyes fixated on the source of the dripping.

A large hole, a leak in the tank, big enough for the contents to spill out onto the floor. But strangely, if the contents did spill out they were nowhere to be seen, the cargo hold was completely dry. Save for the single droplets falling out onto the floor.

The Engineer, his curiosity peaked, crouched down and crawled in under the tank. Looking up into the dark, he shone his torch inside...

He barely had time to scream.

* * *

"Alright, communications reports we've received all the data you sent us." Faro's voiced uttered from the comm, "we'll attempt to translate it but it probably won't be done until the transport returns. Finish up your sweep of the ship and then return to the Chimaera."

"Copy that. Ok, men, time to go." Ayer ordered, the engineers finishing their work and Stormtroopers forming up to leave. "Squad 3, have you finished searching the cargo bay?"

Ayer paused, waiting for a response, but none came.

"Sergeant Kalgen, are you there?"

Again, no response.

"Sergeant..."

"Sir!" Kalgen yelled, his breaths coming quick and shallow, and audible over the comms. His voice contained a panicked tone, and in the background Ayer could hear sounds of struggle and blaster fire.

"Sergeant!? What's wrong!?"

"We're surrounded sir! It's everywhere! Oh my stars it's… it's _moving_ Sir! It's.. it's _alive_! It got the engineering team but I think our armour's protecting us!"

"What!? What's surrounded you!? Kalgen what is down there!?"

"I don't know, it's everywhere and-!"

Kalgen's speech was cut off, as his voice uttered an agonising shriek. The last transmissions from his comm contained a panicked Kalgen ordering something to get off him. Growls, gurgles and other sounds of pain abounded as the transmission fizzled out.

Ezra looked over at Ayer, having listened to most of the events and a look of dread on his face. Ayer activated his comm, and tuned it to the other squad's frequency.

"Squad 1, Sergeant Varn, get your people back to the transport and stay clear of the cargo bay. We are leaving this ship, _now_!"


	7. Displaced: Part 7

Ezra, Ayer and the stormtroopers advanced through the hallways at a quickened pace, checking their corners and navigating the dimly lit corridors.

"Delta-1? This is Captain Ayer!"

"Captain?" The pilot said, "what's wrong?"

"Do you have Sergeant Varn's squad?"

"Yes, Varn, his squad and Chief Engineer Ormyn are here, we have the coolant on board we're just waiting for you and Kalgen's squad."

Ayer sighed, "Kalgen's dead, there's something on board this ship... something hostile, prepare the transport for launch as soon as we get back there, and if we don't arrive in 10 minutes then launch!"

"Acknowledged Captain," The pilot replied with a renewed sense of urgency, "get back to the hangar and we'll launch the moment you're all on board."

Ezra's heart raced in his chest, looking from side to side, examining every wall, wondering what in the world Kalgen and his Squad had found in cargo bay.

The group left the command level in a hurry, going down along a flight of ornate marble stairs. In normal lighting the place would have been reminiscent of an ambassadorial villa, but in the near pitch darkness with the malfunctioning display lights it felt like an old house left to rot. Continuing down the corridor they passed quarters of some kind, either crew or guest.

Ezra turned his head as he heard a sound. He looked down a passageway and saw a closed door with a trail leading under it and what looked to be water running out from the bottom. He looked forward again as they rounded a corner.

"This place gives me the creeps.."

Ezra looked over his shoulder as they continued on, listening to the techs talk to each other.

"I heard a lot of stories about ghost ships growing up. Haven't you noticed there aren't any bodies? Just where did they all go?"

"Maybe they left in the escape pods or a rescue ship. Sure looks like they left in a hurry."

"Maybe." The tech swallowed a lump in his throat. "Or maybe the reason they left so fast was because they were scared of whatever's in the Cargo Bay…"

"This just doesn't feel right. It's like the Queen of Ranroon, or the Nebula Stalker. All those people just disappeared never to be heard from again." The other tech shivered.

"Well at least we've got someone keeping an eye on us huh? We're not going to disappear like them." Another tech said and tried to give a reassuring smile. None of them were convinced. They looked back down at the deck as they kept walking.

"Ahhh!" Ezra jumped back. Everyone spun around as he looked up.

A large, serpentine figure loomed over him, fangs at the ready, claws reaching out at him. Ezra was about to attack at the creature, swinging his lightsaber when he realised it was made of stone.

"It's okay everyone," he said, catching his breath and swallowing, "it's just a statue..."

Captain Ayer sighed, sliding his hand over the top of his helmet. "Listen Jedi, we're on board an enemy ship, trapped in here with a creature strong enough to single-handedly murder an entire Stormtrooper squad, and the last thing I need right now is the very same Rebel who got us into this mess in the first place jumping at shadows, alright? Is that understood?"

"Yeah, okay, sorry," Ezra said.

Ayer turned away, looking down the corridor ahead of them. It was a lightless cavern, the lighting was dim through the whole ship but here it had clearly just failed entirely, the patters on the walls disappearing into the abyss ahead of them.

"Keep your lights up, cover all flanks, check every corner, and stay together. We do not want whatever this is picking us off one by one, understood?" Ayer said.

The stormtroopers advanced slowly, with Ayer taking point, taking care to shine their torches into every corner. Every inch of wall, floor and ceiling was carefully examined. Ezra gulped, walking between of the Stormtroopers. His heart rate quickened as he clutched his saber for dear life. His vision impaired by the darkness, he tried reaching out with the Force in a vain attempt to locate something. He reached out for anything.

"Karabast, I can't sense it." Ezra said, scowling in frustration.

"That either means it's far away," one stormtrooper next to him said, "or it isn't, and you can't sense it."

Ezra stopped, as did the rest, when they saw Ayer coming to a halt in front of them and put up a clenched fist. The troopers raised up their blasters. Ayer remained motionless, staring back at the blackness beyond his torch.

"Are you picking that up?" Ayer asked.

"Yes Sir..." the trooper behind him replied.

"What is it?" Ezra asked.

"Our helmet sensors are picking up something!" Ayer said, spreading his hand open. The men beside Ezra immediately jumped to action and the lead troopers took aim down the hall. Ayer raised his blaster and took aim.

"Cover the hallway! Two lines! Blasters at the ready! Jedi, get to the back and let us do our jobs! Engineers! Behind the Jedi!"

Like clockwork the Stormtroopers formed up in front of Ezra, lining up in two rows across the length of the corridor. The first row took a knee, both rows held their blasters at the ready.

"Motion sensors are going crazy. Whatever it is it's just down the hallway. Oh my stars. It's huge..."

Ezra watched in anticipation, subconsciously happy the troopers were between him and whatever was approaching them. The engineers stood back, clutching their pistols and tool cases, fidgeting as the prospect of a firefight became much more likely.

"It's getting closer. Be ready to fire on my command when it enters our range," Ayer said.

"How close is 'within range', exactly?" Ezra asked,

"You'll see now."

Without a motion sensor, Ezra simply stood there, waiting for something to happen.

Then he heard it.

thump, thump, thump...

Loud footsteps emanated from the dark, distant and quiet at first, but steadily growing louder, closer. There was no sign of the creature, camouflaged in the darkness, but the sounds confirmed its presence.

"Open fire!"

The Stormtroopers acted on Ayer's command within milliseconds, and the pitch black corridor was at last illuminated by dozens of bright red blaster bolts, the noise of repeating blaster fire and the tinge of ignited Tibanna gas against the hallway echoed against the walls.

At last, Ezra was given a glimpse of the monster and he recoiled. He couldn't get a good look from here, but from what he could tell, it looked massive, towering over a human, even a lasat, with ease. Its dark, smooth skin reflected the light, and its long, spindly limbs flailed through the darkness, showing Ezra only glimpses of it's large pointed claws. It hissed and screamed, revealing pointed fangs sharp enough to pierce a Dewback's hide. It recoiled, shielding itself with its long strong arms as it retreated. With superhuman speed it turned from the flurry of blaster bolts and bolted back towards the safety of the darkness.

"Move! After it!" Ayer yelled. The Stormtroopers advanced, checking corners in perfect coordination. A loud bang, some clawing, and a metallic thud echoed through the empty corridor. The troopers stopped at the the heed of Ayer raising his hand, and he looked down to examine a large grate on the floor, before looking up to see the air vent from which it had fallen.

"Damn it! It's retreated into the vents!" One of the troopers yelled in frustration.

"Did you see that thing!?" Ezra yelled, "it was huge!"

"Unfortunately yes," Ayer replied.

Turning away from Ayer, Ezra focused elsewhere,picking up a faint sizzling noise. He looked down to the floor, eyes fixating on a smoking, sizzling puddle.

"Yuck," a stormtrooper said, looking down at it, "what is this stuff?"

Ezra walked over to examine it. A puddle of grey goo was splashed across the ground, smoke emanating from it as it burned. The sizzling sounded like a dying animal. Ezra wondered for a moment as to what exactly this substance was, until a familiar scent met his senses.

He recognised the sickeningly saccharine scent immediately.

"Wait, I saw this stuff earlier. When we were headed to the bridge."

"It might be some kind of blood," one of the engineers suggested. "Or maybe a secretion of some kind."

"Probably," Ezra said,

Ayer sighed, "Doesn't matter. We know now it can be hurt, and if it can be hurt, it can be killed."

"I hope you're-"

Ezra response was caught off by a bloodcurdling scream, and everybody look back behind them down the hallway just in time to see an engineer's flailing legs in the air and disappear into the vent above.

The troopers didn't waste any time, firing towards the vent as their ears were bombarded with loud thumping noises and echoes of struggle.

"Dammit!" One trooper exclaimed, "It got Chalut!"

Before anybody could react, a loud bang came from behind and above the squad, as a grate came crashing to the ground. Two large gray arms reached down, claws ripping into an unfortunate trooper and dragging him up into the vent as he flailed and screamed, his arm flying back and his blaster firing between them into the wall.

"Kill it!" One of the Troopers yelled, and they all opened fire.

It was too late. He was pulled up into the vent. Loud banging and thrashing emanated from the vent as the trooper's cries for help became more and more distant, eventually disappearing.

"Form up! Move quickly!" Ayer barked. "And whatever you do, stay clear of the vents!"

* * *

Ezra's heart was racing, looking from side to side, examining every wall, wondering what in the world Kalgen and his squad had found in cargo bay.

Ezra turned a corner and came to an abrupt halt. In front of him was a group of stormtroopers, standing perfectly at attention, lined up as if in a parade or greeting some important Imperial official, four rows stood motionless, blasters lowered and heads up, with one at the front. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Sergeant Kalgen?" Ayer asked, cautiously approaching the sergeant.

"Apologies Sir. We had a slight incident but as you can see we're fine now. We should really head back to the ship."

Ezra looked on, puzzled. Kalgen sounded off, different. His speech was in a monotonous tone, and he delivered it with an inflection unfamiliar to Ezra.

"Sergeant? What was all that noise? Why did you start screaming? Where is the engineering team!"

"it was nothing sir we just encountered some difficulties but we're fine now sir thank you we should return to the ship"

"Sergeant," Ayer asked, "what the hell happened down there?"

"It's nothing to worry about" Kalgen replied, his words ran together like he was about to fall asleep. "Let's return to the ship."

With that the stormtroopers started marching in perfect synchronization. Ezra took a step back, narrowing his eyes. Stormtroopers were disciplined but this was different. This was wrong somehow.

Ayer grabbed Kalgen's shoulder, and as he did the stormtroopers stopped "Soldier! I asked you a question! What happened down there!"

"Captain Ayer," Kalgen murmured, a menacing tone taking shape, "we should really get back to the transport, the Chimaera is waiting for us..."

Kalgen started to gag and sputter under his helmet, as if he was about to vomit.

"Uhh... Ayer?" Ezra said, "you might want to take a step back. I can't feel them."

"What do you mean you can't feel them?"

"As in, I can't feel them through the Force. They're...they're dead, all of them."

"What? But how..."

Ayer took a step back, clutching his blaster, holding it at the ready.

"Oh dear," Kalgen muttered, "I was hoping you wouldn't notice...it would've made this much easier..."

Kalgen dropped his blaster and removed his helmet. Ezra's breath quickened, and Ayer pointed his blaster straight at Kalgen. Kalgen's eyes were rolled back into his head, his jaw as low as it could be, and out of his wide open mouth seeped a thick gray slime, dripping from his tongue and spilling out onto his armour, gurgling and sputtering as the sweet-smelling ooze spilt out he moved for Ayer.

Ayer didn't hesitate. He fired a single shot, hitting Kalgen in the chest. Kalgen stumbled but regained his footing, and with inhuman speed he knocked Ayer's blaster right out of his hand and grabbed him.

"Get off of me!" Ayer flailed and screamed, and Ezra jumped to action. Swooping with the reflexes of a Jedi and slicing Kalgen's head clean off. Ayer stepped back, catching his breath.

"Never thought I'd say this," Ayer said, "but thanks Jedi."

"Don't thank me yet." Ezra said, eyes wide as he looked over at Kalgen. Ayer looked to see what Ezra was staring at and was taken aback.

The headless Kalgen was still standing, maintaining his balance as if nothing had happened. The rest of the stormtroopers all started to raise their blasters, moving back.

"What the-"

The stump where Kalgen's head used to be bubbled, and gray slime shot out from the stump, spraying onto Ayer's face and armour before he could finish his thought.

The gray liquid on Ayer's face crawled around on the helmet and coalesced, like a living creature it stretched out and recoiled. It was moving.

Ayer moved his hand up to his helmet, attempting to wipe the substance off. But when his hand met his helmet, it became stuck. The ooze moved upwards, coating Ayer's hand and sticking it to the helmet.

"What is this stuff!?" Ayer yelled.

Ezra could only watch in horror as the ooze writhed around, trying to get into Ayer's helmet, moving down towards the mouthpiece. Sickening squelches and squeals abounded as the substance went for his neck and he fell back stumbling into the shadows.

"What the-auugghh!" Ayer said, struggling, "It's on my helmet! It's! My mouth! I can't-arrggghh!"

Ayer's helpless screams sooned turned into a gurgle, and Ezra heard him collapse to the ground. Ezra's knees buckled as he heard bashing sounds, and he was frozen with fear when he witnessed Sergeant Kalgen pick up his head and re-attach it to his neck, the gray ooze holding him together like glue.

Ayer's stormtroopers all raised their blasters and fired. Kalgen's squad growled, dropped their blasters, and lunged. Ezra swung his lightsaber from side to side as stormtrooper after stormtrooper lunged at him. He began slicing them all apart, acutely aware they were already dead. Whenever he did more gray ooze would spill forth from the dismembered limbs and torsos and crawl along the floor.

"What the hell is this stuff!?" Ezra yelled over the battle to whoever was in charge now.

The sounds of blaster fire, the hum of his lightsaber, and the sounds of dismemberment echoed through the hallway as the struggle continued. Ezra held his ground, but blaster fire did little to dissuade the infected, and before long stormtrooper after stormtrooper was beaten down, thrown to the floor by superhuman strength. Any stormtrooper that fell was quickly engulfed by the substance, screaming and flailing as they were coated. But they got back up and kept firing with all the will to stay they could muster.

Ezra continued to hold his ground, but when he tried to lift his foot, he couldn't. Squelching met his ears as he looked down and noticed the substance had completely engulfed itt. He screamed silently as the ooze began to crawl it's way up his leg. His senses were overwhelmed by the sickly sweet aroma, and as the last one fell he looked behind him in horror to see stormtroopers rising...

Ayer's squad looked to each other as their enemies rose to their feet and a trooper looked at Ezra. Somebody yelled for everyone to run as they all scattered. The engineers and the remaining troopers ran in every direction as the remains of Kalgen's squad, even decapitated and dismembered stormtroopers, moved and writhed around him.

With adrenaline-fueled desperation Ezra swung at the ground repeatedly, the liquid making a horrific hissing noise as it recoiled, fleeing from the blue light. Ezra channeled the Force to push his way through the infected troopers, bolting away from the scene as fast as he could.

"Transport are you there?" Ezra yelled into his comm. "Can anyone hear me!"

"Ezra? Ezra, it's Ormyn! What's going on? Are you almost here?"

"Seal the hangar bay! Close the door and don't let anybody in that's not me!"

"Ezra? What's going on?" Ormyn asked.

"Both of the other Squads are dead! Ayer is dead! There's this gray slime on board it... it possesses people! If you see it don't touch it!"

Ormyn was silent over the comm, probably in confusion. He struggled to process everything the Jedi had just told him.

"Brex, close the door," he said, "and don't let anybody in that isn't Ezra. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Ezra panicked, struggling to remember which way led to the hangar. His head spun from corridor to corridor, trying as best he could to jog his memory.

He froze. He could hear synchronized marching, the perfectly rythmic thumping of stormtroopers moving in unison, boots hitting the ground together without a second's delay. Ezra turned a corner, hiding back against the wall. He gripped his saber as he peeked around the corner.

His mind raced, overwhelmed with hundreds of thoughts. He was struggling to comprehend that such a nightmarish substance could exist. Killer liquid and a ... now he'd seen everything.

He readied himself, hoping to maybe stand a chance against the reanimated troopers coming after him. He could only hope the large creature from earlier didn't return.

His heart almost stopped when a familiar sweet scent met his nose.

Before he had a chance to react, a single arm of ooze wrapped itself around his neck, garroting him against the wall as he struggled to breathe. The shock of the assault caused him to drop his saber to the floor, which the ooze then proceeded to coalesce around, coating it completely. Ezra would've been horrified to see the substance claim the last memento he had of his late mentor, but he was too busy struggling as more gray gelatinous arms wrapped themselves around him, restraining him with the strength of a rancor and lifting him up from the floor. Ezra gasped and sputtered, and as he arched his head back his eyes caught the vent from which the substance was pouring.

His screams of terror echoed throughout the abandoned hallways as he disappeared into the vent.


	8. Displaced: Part 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone, don't want to say too much about this chapter, I'm trying to keep the intros fairly minimal here to keep the pacing up and just let the writing speak for itself, but I had to say, this is definitely my favorite chapter so far, you'll see why in a bit...

Ezra screamed, flailing as a mass of gray arms dragged him through the ventilation. Appendages restrained him pulling him through and he struggled to see in the dark.

At a moment's notice, the gray mass suddenly released him and he fell from the ceiling, hitting hard on his back. His impact was cushioned as he heard a sizeable squelching sound and his back hit a thick barrier of the gray ooze.

No sooner had he made his impact then the gray ooze moved around him, encircling him and crawling over his limbs. Before long Ezra was pinned to the ground, unable to move, unable to escape.

"You..."

His body froze, his eyes gravitating towards the sound of the voice. A lone Stormtrooper stood there, motionless, the familiar thin black frown staring back at him.

"You're not like the others... you're not like the ones in white... the weapon…"

He pointed to Kanan's Lightsaber, lying on the floor, the ooze seemed to pull away from it in fear.

"...where did you get that? Why do you wield it?"

"Weapon?" Ezra asked, his mind overwhelmed and confused. He hesitated to move, his eyes wide with fear, more afraid right now than he had ever been in his entire life.

"The sword! The sword made of light! It burns! It burns! It burns like fire... it burns me away..."

It sounded like Kalgen, the voice came from Kalgen's mouth and it certainly sounded like him, but Ezra knew straight away that he wasn't talking to Kalgen...

"You mean... my lightsaber? It's my weapon... no, no I mean I have my own lightsaber but this isn't it. This belonged to a friend, I'm just using it..."

"And where is this friend?" Kalgen asked.

Ezra sighed, "Gone..."

"Such is the way of all flesh creatures. They die, and only I remain. The flesh ones who owned this ship... the serpents... they tried to use me! Use me as a weapon against their rivals! They were fools! They were stupid! And now they are dead... just like your friend..."

"What... what are you..." Ezra asked. He gulped, his heart nearly stopping. This abomination was scaring him more than any Inquisitor, any Sith Lord. He was half expecting to wake up on the Ghost and be greeted by Zeb's snoring any second now. This didn't feel real.

"You are of flesh... you can never understand what I am, at least, truly understand. Many have called me many things... but I have a favourite... I... am the Mnggal-Mnggal."

"Nall... Nall?" Ezra asked, his tongue getting used to the strange word.

"Mnggal-Mnggal!" Kalgen sang with a malicious glee, savouring the complex pronunciation as if taking pride in its complexity, "It is from a tongue you will never understand! A tongue you will never speak! A tongue you will never hear! Those who speak it are long gone... they are dust... or they are me."

Ezra mulled over the words, "If this tongue is lost... how do you know it?"

"I am old... so old... I existed before existence itself. I watched in passive amusement as the Celestials sang your Galaxy to life, I observed as your 'Force' began to take shape, I bore witness to the darkness of a hundred years that spawned both the Jedi and the Sith, and I have watched great Sith Lords such as Exar Kun, the Lord Revan, and the Emperor Vitiate all rise to test the Republic... and I have watched as each and every one of them crumbled to dust against the waves of time... I have always been and I will always be... I am forever... I am eternal."

"Ugghhh..." Ezra heard another voice, one he recognised immediately. In another corner of the large room was another Stormtrooper, this one very much alive. A large orange Officer's pauldron singled him out as Ayer, Captain of the Chimaera's Stormtrooper compliment. He was still alive.

"Ayer? Ayer!" Ezra yelled, trying to get his attention.

"Wha... Where am I... what's going on..."

"Ah yes, you put up quite a fight, I must admit. Even while your men fled like frightened children. You are their leader, are you not? But yet... you serve another..."

"Another... You mean the Grand Admiral?"

"No... I speak of the man all you who wear white serve... the man who thinks himself a God."

"You mean... the Emperor?"

"Yes... the one you call the 'Emperor'... he sits at the heart of the galaxy... he looks down on all he possesses... entire fleets answer to his command... legions and armies bow before him... a demon in black, a puppet to his will, weeps for the one he's lost, and kills in his name... he thinks all who oppose him defeated... he thinks himself invincible... immortal... he thinks himself a God."

The Mnggal-Mnggal chuckled, a sickening laugh, condescending in nature, and dismissive in tone. "but he is wrong... he will die... they always die... all of his little legions, and all of his little fleets will simply crumble to dust... and only I will remain."

"Well that's one part we agree on." Ezra remarked, his cocky tone masking a deeply rooted existential dread. He tried to sound confident but

"Don't be so sure of yourself... you are the same... your 'Rebellion is just as finite as the Empire you oppose..."

"How do you know about that?" Ezra asked, taken aback by this creature's knowledge.

"The brains... I eat the brains... they are delicious and they tell me things... they speak of the Empire... of the man who thinks himself a god and the demon who serves him... and they speak of a great phoenix that would oppose them... tell me, are you... a Jedi?"

"Y...Yes..."

"Ah! A Jedi! A servant of the Force! Am I right? It's been so long since I've seen one... I recognised your sword of light immediately but I almost believe it! It's been so long since I've seen your kind!"

"Yeah, well... there aren't very many of us left..."

"Yes... this 'Emperor', he is a Sith, isn't he? One who gives himself over to the dark. A shame, I have watched your squabble with the Sith since it began so long ago... it was so much fun I will miss watching you kill each other with your swords of light and fire! Tell me... your friend... was he a Jedi?"

Ezra sighed in sorrow, "Yeah, he was... one of the best..."

"I'm sure he was, but he was a flesh creature, all made of flesh share the same fate."

Ezra grimaced, looking down, he began to wonder what Kanan would make of this absurd situation.

"Hmmm... tell you what, Jedi. Why don't you amuse me? I'm bored... let's do something fun!"

"Amuse you? No! I'm not your puppet!"

Ezra was met with a menacing chuckle, "bold words... Jedi... bold words. Do you know what my favourite thing to do in the whole Galaxy is?"

Ezra could only watch, as a single solitary appendage crawled up Ayer's armour, before resting just below his neck.

"My favourite thing... and the reason I was so happy when I found you... is making Jedi suffer... because for a group so stuck in their own heads... so focused on their precious little 'Force'... it is remarkably easy to do so... you care so much about life... about the wellbeing of others... all I have to do is show you suffering... pathetic... you run like scared children from that which you call the dark side, but you are so easy to drive right towards it, your minds just need a little... 'push' is all. So let's play a game, it's called 'hijack the nervous system and activate every single pain receptor in it at once.'"

The appendage shot in under Ayer's helmet. Ezra could only assume the Mnggal-Mnggal's "game" was exactly what it sounded like. Ezra winced, recoiling as Ayer's screams of pain filled the room and he struggled against his bonds.

"Every... Single... Pain receptor in his entire body... all activated at once."

"Stop! Stop it! Let him go!" Ezra yelled, thrashing against the liquid pinning him to the floor.

"Why do you care?" The Mnggal-Mnggal asked, "I thought that you fight the ones in white?"

Ayer caught his breath as the Mnggal-Mnggal ceased it's torment. It was obviously far more interested in Ezra, only using Ayer to toy with him.

"I... I..." Ezra stuttered.

"You've killed plenty of his kind! Have you not?"

"No! Never directly!" Ezra insisted.

"Maybe not directly... but they have died from your actions?"

Ezra stopped, thinking back. The Spectres weren't cold blooded killers, but he had to admit there was a sizeable trail of dead Imperials behind them… lots of collateral from Sabine's

"That's... that's just war, people die that's just... that's just how it is..."

"Then one more dead Imperial shouldn't bother you!" The Mnggal-Mnggal proclaimed with glee, before resuming it's torment of Ayer. Ayer screamed and flailed, straining and trying in vain to escape.

"I told you to stop it!" Ezra yelled once again.

"But why!? Why now of all times!? What's different!?" The Mnggal-Mnggal asked with a sadistic glee.

Ezra opened his mouth, ready to answer... but no reply came.

" _Oh? You don't have an answer, do you?"_

Ezra remained silent, a look of sad confusion on his face.

"Why not just let him die, Jedi? He is one who wears white, they are your enemies, are they not? He gives up his identity, this one here... like all the others he renounces his face... like the others he takes up a new one, he wears a new face, a face of murder, a face of death... and like all his other little soldiers he marches out across a thousand worlds and he spreads fear and he spreads death and he spreads terror... all in the name of the one who thinks himself a God."

"I... he..."

Ezra stuttered as his mouth struggled to put together an answer.

"Underneath that helmet there's a person, OK? I can't live with myself knowing I let him die."

"But why him!? Why not all the other Stormtroopers you have killed!? Did they not have faces!? Friends!? Families!? Parents and Children!? People who loved them dearly and whose hearts ache all because of you!? You and your Rebels!? You and your Spectres!?"

"I... n... no..."

"Look at this one for example..." Another Stormtrooper rose from a nearby puddle, body straightening as he stood up. It now stood over him beside Kalgen, blank stare fixated upon him.

"I devour their brains, you see... I see them... I see their memories... I devoured this one's brain, do you know what I see? I see him at the heart of the Galaxy... the planet you call 'Coruscant'. I see him joining the ship you call the Chimaera as it departs for Lothal. I see him and I see his wife, and his children. I see her, I see the looks of concern and worry on her face. I see him, as he kisses her, and holds her, and tells her that he loves her and he will be back soon. I see his children crying as he leaves. Now look where he is... all because of you, he is here because of you, he is on this ship because of your actions. Where is his family now? What will you tell that woman? And her children? That because of you he died alone far from home? His last thoughts were of them you know..."

Ezra was silent, unable to even speak.

"What would you say to them? How could you ever hope to confront them? The loved ones of every single one of them you've ever killed!? What would you tell them!? You did it for the cause!? For your precious Rebellion!? Would you look them in the eye !? And tell them their loved ones had to die because they were evil!? Would you have the will to even do such a thing, Jedi!?"

Ezra stuttered, unable to form words as tears streamed down his face.

"Ezra Bridger! Jedi Knight! Freedom Fighter! Hero of the Rebellion! Protector of Lothal! Fancy names you tell yourself to hide the fact that you are nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer!"

"NO!" Ezra screamed, "I am not a murderer! I've killed people! Okay!? Yes people have died because of me! There's blood on my hands I admit it!"

Ezra burst into tears at this point, his defences collapsing as he fell apart into a wreck under the Mnggal-Mnggal's verbal assaults.

"But the Empire... the Empire is something else! The Emperor! Tarkin! Vader! I've met them! They're monsters!"

"Is the Red-Eyed Admiral a monster?" The Mnggal-Mnggal asked. "The one you call Thrawn, the one you now work with, is he a monster? You two are very, very alike you know..."

"No." Ezra muttered, defeated, "I'm not like him..."

"Oh but you are! More than you think!"

"I'm... nothing like him... I don't destroy planets..."

"Oh no no no... I know of the Chiss, I know of the one called Mitth'raw'nuruodo. You want the same thing, you want to protect your homes. For him it is the icy plains of Csilla... the Ascendancy and the Chiss, for you it is Lothal, it's great wolves and it's plains of tall grass. Like you he is afraid, he fears not for himself but for his people. He will never admit it but I know better... he is afraid, he is deathly afraid of those that lurk in the dark... those who bow to dark Gods and desire naught but pain and destruction, those who reject tools of steel and plastic and instead turn to instruments of flesh and bone. Like you he kills, he commits atrocities and terrible acts in the name of what he thinks is right... and like you, he justifies it to himself under the pretense of protecting his precious home... and just like you, it's all a comfortable lie so he can sleep at night."

"Heh... now that's where you're wrong," Ezra almost laughed through the tears, trying desperately to regain some control over the situation. "Thrawn would never feel anything... trust me that man _is_ a cold blooded murderer..."

"Ignorant little loth-rat, you know nothing. You don't know what he's seen... do you? The things he's seen... a lesser man would've gone insane. It was so long ago... before even your Clone Wars. He was so young... a mere junior cadet... nowhere near the great warrior that now commands the Seventh Fleet. On that day he watched... he watched on in abject horror, as the dreaded Voidlord and his dark armada burned the colony of Kinoss to the ground... The ground turned to ash and the sky was made fire... a thousand vessels of flesh and coral blocked out the sun... the entire planet ran red with blood as countless numbers of his people cried out in a single unified choir of agony and terror! And in that raging inferno... tempered in the flames of war... was born a warrior unlike any other... and ever since, deep, deep down in the very depths of his mind... buried beneath the cold, emotionless demeanour... is a single spark of fear and of dread, a scar of that day that will remain with him until the end of his life..."

Ezra didn't fight. He didn't have the strength to fight. He was emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. He'd fought, and he'd lost, this living nightmare was too much for him.

"You are alone... little loth-rat..." The Mnggal-Mnggal said, revelling in Ezra's despair, "you are lost and you are alone... you will never see them again... you will never see Lothal again... it's rolling green fields of tall grass are lost to you forever... you will never see your Rebellion again... You will never see your friends or your family again... you will never see Ahoska, or Rex, or Hera, Chopper, Kallus, Zeb or Sabine ever again. You will die here, this ship will be your grave, your body will be my puppet and it will dance for me… and only now, after I have made you realise the truth... that it is all meaningless, that it is all pointless, that the Rebellion, the Empire... even the Force, are fleeting, temporary things, and that in the end they will turn to dust as the Galaxy accepts my cold embrace... that I will allow you to die."

Ezra didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to do, he just sat there, waiting for the Mnggal-Mnggal to do whatever it was about to.

"I have had my fun with you, Jedi. I ordered you to entertain me and your suffering was more delectable than I could ever have hoped for. Now dance for me... dance for me like the good little puppet you are..."

"Fine, go ahead, I'm done fighting..." Ezra muttered, the words struggling to leave his choked up mouth.

The Mnggal-Mnggal moved, the liquid writhing on the floor. It made ready to engulf the Jedi... and then stopped.

"No, this is too easy. To just kill you now would be rather anti-climatic, don't you think?"

The Mnggal-Mnggal took a moment to think, before chuckling with satisfaction.

"No... I have a better idea... I'm just going to let you go!"

Ezra froze again, his despair suddenly becoming inter-mixed with a deep sense of confusion and apprehension. There was no way this thing was going to just let him go free without a catch.

"What do you mean you're just going to 'let me go'?"

"I mean I'm going to let you go, and all you have to do..." the Mnggal-Mnggal's chuckle became louder, growing into a gleeful laugh, "is leave this Stormtrooper here."

"Ayer? You want me to just leave him here?" Ezra asked.

"N-no, no I can't do that..."

"Are you sure?" The Mnggal Mnggal asked, "Alright, well one of you is going to be my puppet. I'll give you a choice, either you can leave Ayer here and go free, or you can let Ayer go and stay with me."

The room was silent as Ezra's mind tried to decide on his answer. The Mnggal-Mnggal had obviously given him this choice solely to mess with him further. There was no way he could just leave another person to die, knowing full well he could've done something to save them. Doing such a heinous act, Ezra didn't think he could ever sleep at night again for the rest of his life. The guilt would be too much for him to bare.

But Ayer was a Stormtrooper, an _Imperial_ , they were supposed to be his enemies, right? Imperials had terrorized his friends, terrorized his home, robbed him of his parents, and they'd killed Kanan...

" _No, no don't think about that right now."_ Ezra thought.

And what of the Seventh Fleet? Without his services as a navigator would they even be able to make it to the Chiss Ascendancy? Was he dooming them all by staying here? Would Ayer return only to later die at the hands of some other monstrous creature?

He couldn't think... he couldn't think... too many things to think about...

After a long, deafening silence, Ezra finally gave his answer.

He knew full well it may be the last decision he would ever make.

"No..." Ezra finally said, "I can't just leave someone here to die, let Ayer go, I'll be your 'puppet'..."

"Really now? You're going to sacrifice yourself to save a Stormtrooper? After all of the Stormtroopers you've fought? What would your friends-"

"Shut up!" Ezra yelled at the top of his voice, catching even the Mnggal-Mnggal off guard.

"I've made my decision! I... I don't care what you think! I am beyond caring what anybody thinks! Just give me this... let me do this one thing... please..."

"This isn't very logical you know, as a Jedi you are far more valuable than him."

"Well I'm not logical. If I left him here I don't think I'd be able to sleep at night ever again. Now let him go."

Kalgen's shoulders, under the direction of the Mnggal-Mnggal, simply shrugged in response.

"Very well," the Mnggal-Mnggal said, and with that the slime receded away from Ayer, freeing his limbs and allowing him to move again. Stiffly he struggled to his feet, using his arms to balance himself before pickup his blaster.

"Just... just go..." Ezra said, "I'm... I'm done."

"Your transport is that way," the Mnggal-Mnggal said to Ayer, "now get out of here, I'm done."

Ayer gave one last look to Ezra, his face expressionless thanks to the helmet, before simply turning and leaving.

"Very noble of you Jedi. Now, time for you to go. I've had my fun... time to die."

Ezra's head was violently jerked back as the grey liquid began to cover his face. His head hit the floor as his face sunk beneath the ooze…


	9. Displaced: Part 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone! Sorry this chapter took as long as it did, but it's a pretty darn long one and honestly it's probably the most "eventful" one so far, so I think you'll like it.

"Any sign of him Brex?"

"Negative Chief. I've been monitoring the ships sensors ever since you received that frantic call. Our Jedi friend is nowhere to be found."

Ormyn let out a sigh, looking at his chrono. It was well over ten minutes since he had sealed the hanger and had everyone get into the troop transport, and Ezra was nowhere to be found.

"Dammit, and I was actually beginning to like that kid," he muttered under his breath, walking up into the cockpit. "Alright Brex, get over here. It's time to leave."

"Well sir, at least the Admiral will understand us leaving with the cargo now." Brex said as he moved away from the instrument panel, and Onym looked it over one last time. "We can always return should they still be alright, assuming it's all as bad as you made it out to be."

"Pilot, get us ready for-"

Ormyn's speaking was cut-off when he heard the sound of an unfamiliar alarm, one that sounded remarkably different from the Imperial Klaxons he was used to. He looked out the transparisteel windows, and around the hangar for the source of the alarms until his eyes stopped, fixated on the hangar bay main door.

Ormyn gulped, watching the metal doors slide across the opening into space and sealing them in like a metal tomb. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, the main lights flickered off, their predicament now only illuminated by emergency lights.

"The hangar shields have lost power." Brex said. "That's bad, very bad. I will go investigate." The droid walked out of the cockpit, and Ornym moved over to the commboard as the stirred pilots looked on nervously and keyed on the engines to standby.  
"Chief, we're stuck in here, and we can't get a signal out to the Chimera.."

Ormyn could only sigh in response, before pounding the board with his fist while his lip twisted with frustration.

"Damn it!"

* * *

 

 _BOOM!_  
  
Ezra's vision went white. Heat washed over him The walls exploded into fire, burning the ooze, and Ezra was set free. He gasped for air, his lungs desperately taking in as much oxygen as possible as he was surrounded by smoke. He looked side to side frantically, trying to figure out what was going on. The only things he could make out were bright red flashes, and the familiar sound of blaster bolts. Coughing and waving away the smoke, all of a sudden he felt a hand grab his shoulder, pulling him back. Ezra looked up through the smoke, and for the first time in his life he was actually relieved to see a Stormtrooper.

"Get up Jedi!" Ayer said, "We're leaving!"

"Ayer!? W-what are you doing here!?"

"The Admiral told me to keep you alive and I intend to do just that now get up!"

His vision cleared, and he saw that the mass of Mnggal-Mnggal was writhing and forming tendrils, reaching out at him. The body of Kalgen rose from the smoldering sludge and his shattered head cracked back up. Its dead eyes stared straight into Ezra's, and it let out a blood curdling screech.

"Neither of you will leave this ship alive!" Ezra heard the creature scream through the smoke as Ayer helped him to his feet. The ooze itself seemed to scream in rage as the walls and floors writhed and screeched. Ezra stumbled awkwardly through the massive hole Ayer had just blown through the wall while Ayer furiously blasted into the room to provide him with some semblance of cover fire as they ran straight down the corridor.

"It's coming through the wall!" Ayer said. He was right, the ooze crawled through the walls around them, reaching out into the hallway in an attempt to catch them. Ezra was coughing and sputtering, clearing his lungs of the dust particles, when he felt the iron grip of a hand grabbing his shoulder.

"Youuuuuuuu..." Kalgen's mangled shambling corpse sputtered as he grabbed him, trying to drag the Jedi back inside, his chestplate burst open as he shrieked as a mass of writhing tendrils swarmed out to swallow him. Ezra quickly force-pushed the undead stormtrooper off of him, and Ayer unloaded a few blaster bolts to try and keep him down, before they both ran away.

They only made it a few metres before running into an entire squad of shambling stormtroopers, gurgling and growling as they reached out towards them. Ayer looked around, examining the walls around him, before his eyes found their way to a ventilation shaft near the floor. The Stormtrooper Captain blasted it open and motioned to Ezra.

"Down here!" Ayer ordered.

"Are you insane!? That thing's been using the vents this whole time!"

"You have a better idea!?"

Ezra hesitated, both corridors were filled with shambling troopers, closing in on them.

Ezra jumped in first, Ayer jumping in after.

* * *

The vent lead to another corridor, and once they'd reached the bottom, they both sprinted, wary that the Mnggal-Mnggal might try to chase them through it. Ezra sprinted for his life, running faster than he thought was even possible. The mere thought of that room, covered in the vile ooze with Kalgen standing over him taunting him, the Mnggal-Mnggal filled with sadistic glee over his despair...

"Alright, I think it's lost us." Ayer said, catching his breath as he came to a stop. "The hangar should be just up ahead, once we get there-"

"KARABAST!" Ezra screamed at the top of his voice, slamming his arms into a wall.

"What the Kriff was that thing!?" He yelled, using language that probably would've gotten him a scolding from Hera back aboard the Ghost.

"It was right! I'm a murderer! All those people are dead because of me! I'm no better than Saw kriffing Gerrera!"

"Get a hold of yourself!"

"What's the point of this war!? What's the kriffing point of-"

Ezra's tirade was promptly cut short by a firm slap to his face. The sharp stinging pain was enough to snap him back to reality.

"Listen? You want to seriously ponder the ethics of killing? You can do plenty of that back on the Chimaera, but right now we are still on board a derelict ship with a nightmarish living slime hungry for blood. So please try get a hold of yourself, alright?"

"Yeah, Okay..." Ezra said, his panting slowing down as he bit his lip, then wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I'm-I'm good. Sorry... just... thanks, I needed that..."

"Don't mention it. Oh, and you dropped this" Ayer said, handing him a familiar silver cylindrical object.

Ezra grimaced, in all of the commotion and despair, he'd completely forgotten about his weapon. Losing his own lightsaber would've been bad enough, but losing this one...

"Kanan's lightsaber?" He clutched it in his fist then hugged it against his chest, relieved to have it back. "Karabast, if I had've lost this..."

"Save it for later." Ayer said, the disapproval audible in his voice, "Let's get to the hangar and get out of here."

"If they're still there. I did tell them to leave if I didn't come back after all." Ezra corrected him, before hearing his comm beep. He picked it up apprehensively and answered.

"Hello?"

"Ezra? You there?"

"Ormyn! Good to hear from you. Are you still on board the ship?"

"We were just about to leave, actually. You weren't answering your comm."

"Yeah I was..." Ezra stopped, unsure of how to describe what just happened.

"...busy. I'm with Commander Ayer now. We're all that's left.."

"Well anyways, we have another problem. The hangar doors are shut. Brex has been interfacing with the ship and from what he can gather the main reactor has lost power and the computer core is locking everything down. The ship is bleeding power from impact damage and the hangar doors have sealed shut. There's not enough power to even keep the force-field up. At this rate, Brex reckons we'll lose emergency lighting next, and then life support. Then we all suffocate and die."

"Great..." Ezra muttered. As if this day wasn't already turning out to be the worst day in his whole life. It might now be his last as well.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"I'm not exactly sure how this ship works. It's very different from the Imperial designs I usually tend to work with, but if I had to guess I'd say a reboot of the main computer power core would give us enough time to keep the system running and get the doors open again. Brex and I tried doing it from the interface in the hangar but this interface is limited to nearby systems only, it's going to need to be reset manually. Commander Ayer, I'm sending the ship layout to your visor hud now" Ayer check his heads up display, and the layout highlighting the hallway appeared with a diagram of the ship in the top right of his visor.

Ezra sighed, "Alright, I'll head down there and try to get the power back up and running. Get the transport ready for launch and I'll be up there in no time."

"Acknowledged, good luck Ezra. Ormyn out."

Ezra put away the comm, staring down the dimly lit hallway in front of him, he braced himself. That creature was still around somewhere, and any moment another tidal wave of gray ooze could spring out to grab him, but he had to do this. Getting ready to set out, he turned to Ayer.

"So, you have the map?"

"Ormyn uploaded it to my HUD remotely, yes."

"So which way is it and how do I get there?"

"How do you…" Ayer asked, before realizing what the Jedi was implying.

"You're not seriously going down there yourself, are you?"

Ezra sighed, "Look, that creature, that _thing_ made me realize something. All of this, this mess? This is on me, all of it. I'm the one who dragged the Seventh Fleet out here. I'm the reason we're on this ship. I'm the reason all of your men are dead and we're at the mercy of that creature. I don't regret what I did, the alternative was Lothal and all of my friends dying, but now? Now I'm going to do whatever I can to get the Seventh Fleet out of this mess. I don't know why, it probably doesn't make any sense, but I guess I feel I have to. It's not logical, but to be honest I don't know what is logical anymore. I'm trusting my instincts, because quite frankly they're the only thing I can trust at this point."

There was a long pause as Ezra struggled to figure out what to say.

"I don't know, nothing makes sense anymore, and I guess I just want to try and save as many people as I can, even if they are Imperials."

"Well, regardless, you're no match for that thing." Ayer said.

"No, I'm not." Ezra replied, a sense of grim acceptance in his voice.

"Which is why you need somebody watching your back. I go back to the hangar, and it'll probably be waiting outside the entrance to ambush me anyway, and you're forgetting we all need your navigational abilities anyway. As much as I hate to say it you're crucial to the Fleet's survival. I'm going with you, whether you like it or not."

Ezra shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, sure, I guess I wouldn't mind having an extra blaster behind me."

* * *

 

They started off carefully. Keeping their distance from overhead vents, they descended down staircase after staircase, plunging further and further into the dark. Passing another set of dark statues carved into an archway, they came to a large door, which Ayer walked up to and opened.

"Before we go any further, there's something I want to check."

Ayer entered the room, Ezra following behind him into a large room filled with racks and railings, though mysteriously, all of them were empty.

"An armory?" Ezra asked.

"I wanted to see if whoever who built this ship had anything that could give us an advantage."

Ezra looked around, examining the empty walls, disappointed the armoury had been picked clean.

"Where did all the weapons go? Did the crew take them?"

"No, no that doesn't make any sense."

Ezra grimaced, as another possibility entered his mind, a far more troubling one.

"What if the creature took them first?"

Ayer looked back at him.

"Then that proves whatever was being stored here could hurt it."

Ayer thought about the possibility more, "Yeah, that makes more sense, there has to be something here somewhere…"

Ayer rooted around for a minute, scrounging through the room to see if the Mnggal-Mnggal had left anything behind.

"Ah!" He exclaimed in satisfaction as he pulled out a container out from under one of the shelves. He propped it up on a table, unlatched it, and opened it. Ezra peered in, and saw that the whole box was filled with rows of cylindrical black devices. The trigger on the side and the red light was similar to most Thermal Detonators.

"Detonators, could be useful. Take some, they might actually hold this thing back."

"You don't already have any?" Ezra asked.

"I had one, but I used it getting you out of that room." Ayer replied, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

Ezra and Ayer gathered up as many of the detonators as they could carry, and then they made their way out.

Suddenly, a loud rumble emanated through the halls as the whole ship shuddered and shaked.

"What was that? Did something just hit the ship?" Ezra asked quietly.

"Sounded like a direct impact again. The shields must be fully down now. The hull will probably hold for a while.." Ayer paused.

"Wait, how long has this ship been here? A few days?"

Ezra shook his head. "I don't know, what's the matter?"

"A ship of this size, even without a full crew, the reactor should still have enough power to be running for weeks. Why has it shut down?"

They were quiet for a handful of heartbeats as they tried to think about it. "We'd better see what Ornym-"

_Drip, drip, drip…_

Ezra spun around, looking up at a ceiling vent and heart nearly stopping.

Gray ooze, writhing out of the vent towards them.

"Run!"

* * *

"Is there any sign of it?" Ezra asked, ducking behind a corner and frantically examining his surroundings.

"No, no I don't see it."

"We can't do this. At this rate we'll never get to the power core..." Ezra said.

He slumped downwards, resting against a wall, his hands sliding across his face as all of a sudden the gravity of his situation started to sink in.

How did he end up in this mess? Ezra thought to himself. He'd only been out here a few months, but it was already starting to feel like a lifetime. He couldn't do this, he couldn't keep this up. This thing... this creature... it was unlike anything he'd ever encountered before. No amount of Inquisitors, no amount of Sith Lords, could've prepared him for this. Send a hundred Inquisitors, send a thousand Inquisitors. Anything is preferable to that monster.

Ezra steadied himself, Ayer visibly trying to make sense of the map on his helmet. His mind continued to mull over the events in the ooze-covered lair, whatever this creature was, it viewed him as a mere insect. It knew everything, it knew about the Rebellion, it knew about the Empire, and it had dismissed all of them with a casual curiosity. A glance of amusement, how one might lift over a rock and examine the myriad of crawling insects beneath. The creature had scoffed at even the Emperor, dismissing him as a delusional fool, gloating over the inevitability of the passage of time, and giggling with glee at the relative pointlessness of the Rebellion's struggle. The entire war, everything that had transpired across countless worlds, was nothing more than an idle curiosity to it. The fact that he could be looked down on like that, the thought sickened him.

How could even a Jedi Master, let alone some orphan from a backwater planet, even hope to match it. Not even the Force was above it, how was that even possible? This "Mnggal-Mnggal" was truly unlike anything he'd ever seen.

It had him outmatched at every turn. It was smarter than him, much stronger than him, it was nigh unstoppable and it appeared to have infested every corner of the ship. Now here he was, facing this thing, hopelessly outmatched, trying to save Imperials of all people. He felt like the subject of some kind of elaborate cosmic joke. Right now, it felt like the universe itself was laughing at him. For the first time ever, it felt like even the Force itself had well and truly abandoned him to die out here.

Ezra felt alone, he felt truly and utterly alone, even more than when Kanan died. Even more so than his youth on Lothal, before he met the Spectres, back when it was just him on the streets trying to survive. He'd thought he'd felt alone during his journey on the Chimaera, but now he missed even the cold grey corridors of the Grand Admiral's flagship. The dark corridors closing in on him only reminded him of how far away from home he really was...

_Beep Beep, beep beep._

His introspection was cut short by another comm call, Ezra picked up his comm and answered.

"Hello? Ezra? Are you there? Are you still alive?"

"Ormyn!" Ezra exclaimed, he never thought he'd be truly relieved to hear from an Imperial, but then he never thought he'd be lost in the Unknown Regions, his friends nowhere to be found, cornered by intelligent killer slime that liked to make him suffer for fun either. This was so much easier when it was just him vs the Empire...

"We're still moving down through the ship, but we may be here a while, we're going at a pretty slow rate."

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I called. Brex and I have been trying to splice our way into the ship's systems. We haven't made much progress, but we think we've found a faster route to the power core."

"Oh! Yes! What is it?"

"Well that's the problem, it's risky, especially with the ship's power struggling to even keep the lights on, but I think you might be able to use the turbolifts."

Ezra blinked, "The turbolifts?"

"Yeah, they go all the way down to the bottom of the ship, it'll be much faster than going through the corridors."

"Well yeah I know that, but I didn't think the ship would have enough power for us to do that." Ezra explained.

"That's what I thought to, but then I found there is a junction connected to the turbolifts, with a backup power supply. If you activate that the turbolifts will have enough power to take you right to the bottom."

Ezra blinked, unsure of this plan, "and if the power fails?"

"You both plunge to your deaths, but we've got no other option."

Ezra sighed, "Alright, let's do it. Send the junction's location to Ayer and we'll head over there."

Ayer stared blankly at nothing for a minute, presumably examining the map on his helmet, and then pointed down one of the corridors.

"This way," Ayer said, "the junction should be just-"

_Thud, thud, thud…_

Ezra turned to the source of the noise. Large, heavy footsteps, stomping across the ground, could be heard down one of the corridors. They were far too heavy to be a mere human. His heart nearly stopped at the noise, and Ayer silently motioned to him to move down the corridor, away from the creature and towards their objective.

The two of them made absolutely sure to stay quiet, hoping whatever was behind them wouldn't figure out where they are. All the while Ezra's mind raced as he tried to fill in the gaps. Was that one of the ships original builders? Possessed by the Mnggal-Mnggal? No, no wait, he'd heard this before. It was the creature from earlier, when they were leaving the bridge. The large, bipedal creature had needed an entire line of Stormtroopers to even get it to fall back, two people probably weren't a match for it.

_Bang!_

In the dark, and with Ezra's thoughts pre-occupied, he hadn't noticed the large metal object on the ground, the large metal object he'd just unintentionally kicked.

The large metal object that made a loud, audible clanging noise.

_Thud... Thud... Thud... Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud…_

The stomping was getting faster, and it was getting louder.

The creature was headed right for them.

Ayer spun around, raising his blaster and firing down the hallway. Squeals and hissing could be heard, but the creature

And there it was.

Oh dear stars there it was.

As soon as it appeared, the creature lunged at Ezra, snarling and raving as a pair of outstretched claws closed in on him from either side.

A normal human would've been dead, but Jedi reflexes are anything but normal.

With lightning speed Ezra pulled out his lightsaber, and in a swift slice he robbed the creature of both of it's arms.

The creature hissed and screeched, stumbling backwards as the stumps of it's arms bubbled and hissed. The dismembered arms fell to the floor, and with a splash they immediately melted into ooze. Ezra had seen glimpses of it before, but it was only now he was able to get a good, prolonged look.

He almost wished he hadn't.

The creature was entirely gray, and featureless. A blank, flat face was mounted on a plain head, the only discernible feature being a mouth covered in . Ezra could see himself reflected on the creature as he looked up at it's face, and it's tall spindly body and elongated limbs towered over him.

Ayer wasted no time. With the creature momentarily stunned and at point-blank range, he fired more blaster bolts into the creature. Gray ooze splashed in every direction as the armless monster lost it's footing and fell over.

" _Hello again Loth-rat..."_

Ezra heard a voice, a voice that sounded like a choir of a thousand different beings speaking in unison, but the creature's mouth didn't move. While the voice was unfamiliar, it didn't take a genius to figure out who he was speaking with.

" _Do you like this form? I have many... but this is one of my favourites. I prefer to use flesh-creatures, have puppets do my work, but sometimes a more direct approach is needed..."_

This creature, it was entirely Mnggal-Mnggal. The liquid had coalesced under it's guiding intelligence and formed into a massive hulking predator. For a brief moment Ezra wondered why a creature capable of this even needed bodies, before deciding it didn't, and merely possessed people for fun. Such a thesis fit well with the Mnggal-Mnggal's attitude thus far.

" _Wonderful, isn't it? Wonderful for collecting puppets... and unlike my puppets... no pesky loved ones for you to feel guilty about..."_

Ezra gritted his teeth, pointing his saber down toward the creature, his patience wearing thin. He'd had enough of this creature mocking him. "What do you care!? You clearly don't care about what happens to any of us!"

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Ayer asked in confusion.

" _Simple, Loth-rat... fun..."_

Ezra didn't have time to react. A sharp blade stretched out from the stump of it's arm and sliced him across the leg.

Ezra fell to his knee, yelling in pain. The slash had pierced his skin and drawn blood. The creature stood up. Ayer was frantically firing into the creature, but it didn't seem to notice.

The Mnggal-Mnggal simply looked down at Ezra, and it's teeth stretched into a sickening grin.

With all the power he could muster, Ezra let out a strong, concentrated force push, knocking the Mnggal-Mnggal back off it's feet for a second time as he struggled to stand up.

A thermal detonator flew by his head, landing on the creature's stomach. Ezra spun around and bolted in the opposite direction, Ayer sprinting behind him. A loud explosion could be heard as the creature was liquified, gray slime spilling all over the walls and floors. Had they turned around, they would've noticed it coalescing again, a blank face filled with needle-sharp teeth rising from the puddle.

Ezra ran, hearing the loud stomping coming from the darkness behind him.

Ezra gulped as they came to the end of the corridor.

A dead end, a set of turbolift doors in front of them, and the stomping getting louder.

Within a split second he'd impaled the door on his lightsaber, the blade slicing down the middle to part the doors.

Ayer turned around and started firing at the creature in a vain attempt to slow it down. It stumbled slightly, but a single blaster was nowhere near enough to stop the creature.

" _You can't run forever, little Loth-rat..._

Ezra ignored the voice whispering into his very mind as he cut through the door.

" _I will devour you... I will devour you all..."_

He gritted his teeth, paying no heed as the words clawed through his skull.

" _...the entire Galaxy is my playground... my domain... such a pretty ship, the Chimaera... and soon it will be all mine..."_

"Shut up! And stop calling me Loth-rat!"

The voice chuckled, " _Silly little Loth-rat... so easy to play with..."_

With a directed force blast in either direction, Ezra forced the doors apart, his patience wearing thin with the Mnggal-Mnggal's taunting.

"In here!" Ezra yelled as he jumped into the lift.

"But the lifts don't have any power!"

"We aren't using the lifts!" Ezra sliced open the roof above them, jumping up on top and reaching back down for Ayer. The Stormtrooper climbed up after him, and Ezra grabbed onto a railing on the wall, holding his saber out to the mechanism holding the lift in place.

Ayer didn't need any verbal instructions to figure out what he was doing, and took hold of the wall. As soon as the creature had stormed it's way into the lift, it snarled up through the opening, and stretched out it's arms to pull itself up. Ezra wasted no time, a quick slice disconnected the lift, and he held on for dear as the floor beneath him disappeared.

"Yeah! Not bad for a Loth-rat! Am I right?"

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Ayer yelled at him, confused.

Ezra looked back at him, "The Mn... the creature..."

He still wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce the thing's name.

"I heard it, I heard it speak."

Ayer sighed, "Well anyways, there's a horizontal turbolift shaft beneath us. We can go through that to reach the junction."

Ezra dropped down, grabbing onto the ledge of the shaft and pulling himself up in a display only a Jedi could pull off. Ayer dropped down after him, and the two made their way through the large rectangular tunnel in front of them.

* * *

They followed the tall rectangular pathway with the inset rails gleaming from the light from Ayers blaster. Ezra's only source of comfort was the light of his Lightsaber. He kept his eyes ahead and his Jedi senses everywhere else. The darkness was a starker contrast to the outside, and Ezra could only rely on the Force, and on Ayer's torch, to find his way. The vast void surrounding him made him nervous as they stayed on the lookout for the junction room. They kept going until Ayer stopped, and pointed to the yellow outline of an access door.

"There it is. Get up here and get it open. Remember not to touch the rails." Ezra nodded and carefully moved past him, and after removing the safety interlock, they were inside. Under the doorway were rails for damaged lifts to be brought in and repaired. Inside was a monitor with a flashing key, Ezra approached, and with an approving nod from Ayer he shrugged and pushed it. There was a chime as a display board lit up the room, showing a series of red lines steadily going yellow then green.

"I think I got it running." Ezra said, feeling himself let out a breath he'd been holding. Looking to Ayer he still wasn't sure what the man was feeling, his expression hidden by the familiar frown of a Stormtrooper.

"Can we call a lift from here? Looks like there's a tube that goes down fairly close on the map." Ayer asked.

"Uhh.." Ezra began looking at the panel. Taking note of the symbols, which he guessed must be the numbers, he punched them in the console. He assumed the yellow on the door meant maintenance, and hit the yellow key. Sure enough, to his great relief, the lift arrived in short order.

"Good work." Ayer said as the doors opened and he stepped inside. Ezra smirked, it had been a while since anyone had complimented him on anything other than trapping them here. He was quick not to dwell on the thought, as he punched a button, and the lift began to descend...

* * *

The lift brought the unlikely duo down into the underbelly of the ship. Making their way through the lower levels the two were now wary of the nightmarish Mnggal-Mnggal ambushing them once again. Strangely however, it was nowhere to be found. No undead Stormtroopers jumping out of the shadow, no ooze creeping in to surround them, there was no sign of the creature. It was as if the Mnggal-Mnggal had simply forgotten they were even on the ship.

And now here they were, faced with one of the most heavily reinforced doors Ezra had ever seen.

"Well this isn't opening any time soon." Ayer said. I don't think these detonators will do the trick either. This is some serious renforcement.

"Yeah right, this is easy." Ezra replied.

"You sure that can cut through this?" That's probably five feet of reinforced durasteel or more." Ayer said. Ezra pulled out his lightsaber, smirking as he ignited the weapon.

"I'm pretty sure. Now stand back, you're about to see just how strong these things really are."

Ayer turned away from Ezra, blaster held ready against the large corridor behind them. Ezra squinted his eyes as the blue light nearly blinded him, before driving the blade straight into the heavy door in front of them. Ayer stood at the ready, waiting for the Mnggal-Mnggal to show itself while Ezra got to work. Once again, however, the Mnggal-Mnggal refused to show itself.

* * *

"Chief Engineer, I have managed to make a breakthrough!" Brex said triumphantly, walking back into the cockpit.

"Did you get access to the power control?"

"Accessing. Stand by..." Brex responded mechanically as he began wirelessly interfacing the shuttle with the ship's computer.

Ormyn waited in anticipation, watching eagerly as Brex got to work, waiting for an answer...

"No, apologies sir. I'm afraid i've only been able to isolate as far as the ships internal security monitors. Anything above that is restricted on this level."

Ormyn sighed, frustrated at the false hope. They really were counting on Ezra to pull through.

"Wait, hang on, I believe I've found something."

Brex pressed more buttons, and before long the interface screen on the transport lit up to show a display of a room Ormyn hadn't seen before. Ormyn, however, knew ships like the back of his hand, even strange unrecognised ships like the one he was on. It didn't take him long to deduce that this was the bridge due the layout.

But what perplexed Ormyn the most, was that the bridge had people on it, and not just any people... Imperial Engineers.

"What are they doing up there?" Ormyn asked, perplexed by their presence.

"I'm going to contact them, ask them why the hell they didn't return to the hangar." He began to key the comm until Brex tapped his shoulder.

"With all due respect sir, I'm not sure that's a good idea..." Brex stopped him.

Ormyn looked at the droid inquisitively, "What do you mean?"

"Didn't the Jedi tell us not to open the door for anybody that wasn't him?" Brex reminded him.

"Yes?"

"Simply a possibility, but wouldn't that suggest whatever he was afraid of can possess the bodies of other organics?" He then pointed to the screen. "They're certainly acting atypical chief. Are you sure you want to reveal us?"

Ormyn froze, suddenly realizing what Brex was saying. The more he looked at the Engineers, the more they appeared... wrong. They stumbled and limped, moving in an oddly uniform fashion. Their actions synced together with a precision he had never seen before...

And Ormyn's heart nearly stopped when one of them jaggedly turned away from the controls and with a dark smile stared right at him.

Orymn simply returned the stare, taken aback and disgusted by the dead, lifeless eyes, and the gray ooze that was leaking from his mouth...

* * *

After a few minutes of slicing, Ezra pushed a large circular piece of metal to the floor. Taking care to avoid the white hot edges of the hole he had just created, he stepped through into the subsequent room, followed shortly after by Ayer.

The room they had just entered was utterly devoid of light. Through the darkness, Ezra could hear a faint hum, distant and dim like the dying breaths of a wounded animal. He looked around, using his saber as a source of light, before making out the shape of the room. It was rectangular, and it had an opening looking down into a collection of data banks. The large central core ran up the middle of the room below them with a pathway going horizontally across. To the left of them was a large orange machine, in the center an opening looked out into the main core and a terminal, and adorning the wall were a series of switches, fobs, and levers. Walking around to the large machine on the left Ezra recognised the similar shaping.

"I think I found the controls and the backup generator." Ezra said.

"Alright, get it switched on and let's get out of here." Ayer replied.

"I would, but the markings are in a language I've never seen before."

Ezra examined the the controls closer, holding his saber as close as he could without burning the levers. He couldn't understand the markings, but he was able to understand the green or red lights adjacent.

"OK... I think..." He muttered, before flipping the switches and trying a few buttons, until all of the lights switched to green.

"There, that should do it."

The machine hummed and the lights flooded back on almost instantly, lighting the entire room up. The silver walls and elaborate patterns that had hid in the dark now shone brightly. Ezra took another look around the room, and his eyes fixated on a peculiar object. It was a gun, an energy weapon, but it certainly wasn't a blaster. The grip was cushioned, and the deep red padding felt soft in his hand. The weapon was silver, with the slim rectangular body connected to a long cylindrical barrel. A shining gold spiral coiled around the barrel and ended at the muzzle, the side of which held an engraving of a snake bearing it's fans, it's mouth wide open and ready to attack. A dial was located on the side. Presumably it indicated the power level or setting of the device, and a large bulky magazine was connected in front of the trigger. He looked it over for a moment, before simply hooking the peculiar blaster to his hip, deciding it could be useful. Next to it was an undisturbed pile of dust. He examined the dust for a moment, before simply moving towards the door.

"Ezra!? Ezra come in!"

Ezra nearly jumped out of his skin, before realizing it was just his comm, he was half expecting that horrid creature to show itself again and had been on edge the whole time. He reached for his comm in response to the voice.

"Ormyn! We got the computer power back on, but that shouldn't have been linked to the lights.. Right?"

"You've got bigger problems than that!" He insisted.

"That creature you were afraid of? It has techs on the bridge. Not only that, but the ship already had more than enough power to keep the hangar open. The power output was turned down manually from the bridge, the creature did it!"

"What? Why-"

"Jedi! We have a problem!" Ayer yelled.

Ezra turned at the sound of Ayer's voice, only to be hit with a rising feeling of dread as a familiar grey ooze began to pour through the doorway,.

"You flesh creatures... so, so foolish..."

Ezra gulped as he witnessed Kalgen, armor scorched and burned, stepping through the hole he had cut. The ooze moved away, leaving Kalgen room to stand. More than a dozen stormtroopers marched through in lockstep after him, spreading out throughout the room as Ezra ignited his saber again and Ayer held his blaster at the ready.

"So simple minded... so easy to play with... so fun to play with..."

"What have you done!?" Ezra yelled, his dread from earlier returning.

"I haven't done anything, Jedi... but you... you've just doomed them all... the admiral... the commodore... and everyone else on that ship will all be my puppets... the Serpents fled... they screamed and they ran in terror... but one, oh one he sealed this room! He disabled the engines, he locked them down and trapped me here... and then he picked up that gun and he brought his own end... the weapon turned him to dust so that his flesh couldn't become me..."

"The engines? What do you want with-"

Ezra was cut-off mid-sentence as he was knocked back. He struggled to keep his balance as the whole room shook he could feel the engines whirring to life...

* * *

"What the.." Hammerly said as she watched the sensor readouts. "Stand By alert! Someone get me the Commodore and the Grand Admiral!"

"Commander Hammerly.. What's going on?" Faro asked, bewildered by the sudden urgency as she entered the bridge.

"I don't know how to tell you this..." Hammerly said.

"...but the ship is moving."

"The Celaphid ship?" Thrawn said as he entered the bridge behind Faro.

"Yes Admiral, its engines are online and the shields and other systems are powering back up as well."

Thrawn and Faro both watched as the ship, tattered and scraped within the asteroid field, came to life. It's sublight engines igniting, and it slowly turned, repositioning itself. It swung away from the asteroid nearest to it, and begin moving at full speed, it flew forward...

It was heading right for the Chimaera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try and get the next chapter up quicker next time, but I'd rather have them be good than fast. Don't worry, if I ever abandon this story for whatever reason I will tell you all. I'm having a blast writing this, and with no SW content I'm actually looking forward to around the corner (Seriously I just don't like how Disney are handling the franchise) this is kind of where I'm getting my fix.


	10. Displaced: Part 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are once again! Sorry about the delay, but this chapter is pretty long and it's also the end of this little Mnggal-Mnggal arc, so without further ado, I hope you enjoy it.

"Their weapon systems are powered down, Admiral. All power's been diverted to forward shields and sublight engines. The ship's on a collision course with the Chimaera."

"Go to Red alert. All hands to battlestations." Thrawn ordered and the bridge jumped to action as the reports came in from all stations.

"All stations awaiting your orders Admiral" Faro reported briskly from his side.

"Be ready to fire on my orders, Commodore." Thrawn ordered.

"Admiral, we're receiving a transmission from the boarding party!" Lomar called out.

"Patch them through to the operations room." Thrawn said and Faro followed close behind. The Celaphid was still far out of range at this point so hopefully they could get some more insight as to what was going on with that ship.

The holoprojector lit up as they entered, and two figures appeared, an exhausted looking man in an Engineer uniform, and a BLX Series Labour droid.

"Hello? Chimaera? This is Chief Engineer Ormyn! Do you read?"

"Acknowledged Delta-1. We hear you Chief Ormyn, may I ask what exactly is going on over there?" Thrawn asked, his cool demeanour not betraying even a hint of urgency.

Ormyn opened his mouth, looking as if he was trying and failing to put together a coherent sentence.

"I... I don't know sir, we have the coolant, but two of the teams are gone. We're just waiting for Captain Ayer and Ezra to get back."

"Only one Squad made it back? Where are the other two?" Faro interjected.

Ormyn grit his teeth, "They're... they're dead sir. There's something on board this ship... some kind of Grey Slime."

"Grey Slime..." Thrawn murmured to himself.

"It killed them, and then it... I don't know it possessed them somehow. It's... It's using their bodies to drive the ship!"

"and it's headed straight for the Chimaera..." Faro noticed Ormyn's eyes widen, a look of grim realisation on his face.

"Where is Ezra and Captain Ayer?" Thrawn asked.

Ormyn sighed, "It tricked us, redirected all of the power away from the hangar doors, we thought the ship was running out of power but it just wanted us to give it access to the engines."

"Avoid the substance Chief Engineer, and await the return of Ezra and Ayer. Be ready to leave as soon as they are on board, Chimaera out."

Thrawn ended the transmission, face grim.

"Signal Captain Fel, order him and his men to move to the rear of the vessel and take out the sublight engines. We need to slow the ship down as much as we can."

"Agreed, Sir." Faro replied.

* * *

 

"That's your plan!?" Ezra yelled in disbelief, a nervous chuckle manifesting.

"Some plan that is! We'll be blown into dust before you can even reach the Chimaera!"

Kalgen's corpse chuckled in response,

"Maybe we will... maybe we won't... but either way, I am having far too much fun... time to die..."

The shambling mass of Stormtroopers moved in on the duo, surrounding them on every side. Ayer held his blaster at the ready, back turned to Ezra. Ezra held his saber tightly with one hand, and with the other he let out a massive force push, knocking most of the possessed off their feet. Without a second thought, he jumped at them, and started slashing away at the mass of Stormtroopers. He dismembered them, slashing the bodies apart, slicing and dicing them until they could no longer overwhelm him.

He felt no guilt, he felt no remorse. The Mnggal-Mnggal had already killed them, if anything he was doing them a favour.

More and more of the undead ran at him, sprinting in unison in a mass swarm. Ezra swung his lightsaber in every direction and every angle, dismembering all of them. When the ranks had been sufficiently thinned, he leapt out of the crowd's reach, and made his way to the door.

"Ayer! This way!" He called, seeing the Stormtrooper behind him.

Ayer was overwhelmed, the undead overpowering him and almost pushing him to the floor. Ezra reached out to the force, grabbing Ayer and pulling him to safety. Ayer lost his footing and fell, but he was grateful to be out of reach from the mob.

"Get to the door!" He ordered, and the two of them tried to put as much distance between them and the undead as they could.

The Jedi and the Stormtrooper bolted to the door, and just as Ezra was about to leave, Kalgen grabbed him once again.

"You will never leave this ship alive Loth-rat!" Kalgen yelled as grappled the Jedi.

"You will be me... you will all..."

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" Ezra yelled, slicing the Stormtrooper in half. A Jedi's patience was great, greater than most, but it wasn't infinite.

Ezra had grown sick of this thing, it had laughed at him, it had mocked him. It had played with him like a mere toy and it had shown nothing but mocking condescension towards everything he stood for and believed in...

It thought of him like an insect, but as Ezra had just demonstrated, insects can bite back.

Kalgen's upper half flew to the side, thrown away by the full power of the force. Ezra was glad to be rid of him. For the briefest of moments he wondered what the Stormtrooper who once inhabited that body would've thought, before deciding he was better strewn across the room rather than the puppet of some unknowable malicious entity.

Ezra leaped over Kalgen's disembodied legs, the force propelling him straight to the door. With Ayer firing one last volley behind them, they made their way out to the hallway.

Him and Ayer practically jumped into the turbolift, and they were relieved to see the doors shut behind them, sealing the shambling mass behind them disappear and began moving upwards.

"Karabast..." Ezra sighed, the familiar expletive clawing it's way out between shallow rapid breaths as he leaned against the turbolift.

"And I used to think Inquisitors were the scariest thing in the Galaxy..."

Half of him wanted to laugh, the other half of him wanted to cry.

"Once we're at the top, how far until we get back to the hangar?"" He asked Ayer.

"I set the lift to go to as close to the hangar as it could. We should-"

A loud vibration cut off Ayer's sentence, as the ship bumped and shaked, and an audible bang could be heard.

"What was that?" Ezra asked.

* * *

 

"Captain Fel reports success, Admiral. The engines have been disabled and the ship is slowing down. Unless they somehow manage to switch off the Inertial Dampeners the ship should start slowing down any moment now. Should I order the Ion batteries to commence firing?"

"No, refrain from Ion fire, we don't want to risk the hangar doors shutting the transport in, especially if they are still alive..."

Thrawn and Faro stood on the bridge of the Chimaera, and Faro noticed Thrawn's expression gradually becoming grimmer.

"This mission was a mistake. If I had known the ship was infected with the Mnggal-Mnggal I would have simply ordered it destroyed."

Faro turned her head, "I'm sorry Sir, what did you say?"

"The Mnggal-Mnggal, it is the grey substance Chief Engineer Ormyn described."

"I presume your people have had some contact with it then?"

"The Chiss have encountered it before in the past, yes." Thrawn nodded.

"It's one of the most dangerous creatures in the entire Galaxy, and no amount of coolant or salvageable supplies are worth the risk of infestation. Especially when the potential loss includes our navigator."

Faro felt her throat go dry. The Grand Admiral knew the Unknown Regions better than any of them, if he said this creature is dangerous, then it's dangerous.

"All we can do now is make sure the ship is not a threat to the Chimaera, and hope that our team returns intact. Order Captain Fel to target weapons and shields, disable the ship as much as possible but refrain from damaging the power supply. I'm sure a man of Fel's talents should be able to accomplish that."

"Right away, Sir." Faro replied, suppressing her concerns. Organic starships? Killer slime? What else did the Unknown Regions have in store for her? All of a sudden Faro started to miss Imperial Space...

* * *

 

_Bang! Bang!_

Ormyn turned his head over, and he clutched the small sidearm attached to his belt. Something was banging against the door to the hangar, and the steel rectangular frame began to bend outwards under the pressure.

"Brex! Get back on the transport!" Ormyn yelled, and the two of them bolted back over to the door as fast they could.

Ormyn had only just reached the transport, when he looked back as the banging had stopped. Stormtroopers moved to stand at the transport's hatch and trained their rifles on the door.

Slowly, gradually, grey slime began to pour in through the small gap now present in the door, prying it open, the large grey wave split in two and pried the doors wide open, the writhing gelatinous liquid then parted and ripped the door apart.

And in walked a scene right out of a nightmare.

A mass of shambling stumbling stormtroopers and engineers poured through the breach, reaching out in a vain attempt to grab him.

"Join us! Join us! Emperor's Servants, join me!" They chanted in unison,

"Join us in death! Join me in death!"

Even Brex seemed disgusted at the sight.

The transport elevated as the pilots saw the horror in front of them, removing itself from the ground, and Stormtroopers surrounded Ormyn, beginning to blast the oncoming mass. Ormyn did have a sidearm, but he doubted it would have more impact than the Transport's lasers would in a few seconds.

The shambling mass continued to approach the transport, a slow crawling grey wave slithering between the legs of the mob. All the while, the entity continued it's choir, inviting the Imperials to their doom.

Ormyn watched from the door as the transport's laser cannons opened fire along with the Stormtroopers below, laser fire blasting the horde and sending them flying over the room. Grey masses, slime, and body parts flew in every direction.

"Damn it!" Ormyn muttered under his breath.

"Where is Ezra!?"

* * *

 

The Jedi and the Stormtrooper sprinted down the corridor to arrive at the hangar doorway, Ezra's heart sinking as he saw the shambling mass shuffling through the door.

"I hope you've got another Detonator." He said to Ayer.

Ayer, thinking ahead, reached to throw another detonator when all of a sudden the crowd exploded into fire, laser fire smashing through them and clearing the way into the hangar. They entered the doorway, and saw the transport hovering slightly off the ground. Stormtroopers clamoring back up the forward boarding ramp and a familiar face looking across at them.

"There you are!" Ormyn called out.

"Come on! We're leaving!"

Ayer jumped up first, grabbing onto the boarding ramp and pulling himself up with help from Ormyn, Ezra, using his Jedi abilities, simply leapt into the air and landed on the ramp.

"So, I'm guessing _that_ is what's flying the ship?" Ormyn asked,

"I'm afraid so, I've never seen anything-"

"Watch out!"

Ezra turned just in time to see a massive, grey arm reach out and swat him. Ormyn stumbled back, missing the ooze just barely, and Ayer was still only getting to his feet, the arm flying over his head.

Ezra, who could only presume that he was the intended target, was knocked clean off the ramp and fell to the base of the hangar...

* * *

 

"Sublight engines are terminated, Admiral. The ship has come to a dead stop." Faro said.

"Excellent work, Commodore, and tell Captain Fel likewise. Now we wait and see if the transport will return."

"Admiral! Commodore!" Hammerly called out.

"They're redirecting more power to their engines!"

"But we've already taken out their sublight drives." Faro pointed out.

"Not the sublight engines Sir, the Hyperdrive."

Faro's eyes widened, she blinked for a minute.

"But at this vector they'll smash right into us! Helm! Bring us about! Get the Chimaera out of its direct line of sight!"

* * *

 

"Chief! Captain! Get in we need to leave now!" The pilot called out to them from the comm.

"Hang on! The Jedi's still down there!" Ayer yelled back.

"There's no time! We have to-"

"Without a navigator we can't go anywhere!" Ayer replied.

"And besides..." Ayer muttered to himself.

"The kid stuck his neck out for me, I owe him this much..."

Ezra landed squarely on his back, the pain reverberating throughout his whole body. He pried his head up from the floor, moving stiffly against the rigid aching and bending his limbs to make sure they still worked.

He sat up for only a moment to see a claw coming at him.

The Jedi immediately leapt backwards, narrowly missing the large outstretched hand clawing at him, the pain leaving him in an adrenaline fueled instant. Ezra was confronted once again with not only a shambling mass of undead, but also the last thing he wanted to see right now. He gulped as the massive arm that had swatted him from the transport coalesced. A flat head with a razor sharp smile took shape, and spindly limbs stretched out towards him.

Once again, The Mnggal-Mnggal loomed over him.

" _Oh dear oh dear oh dear..."_ a voice called out to his mind, the smile drooling grey ooze onto the floor.

" _The Admiral is determined to ruin my fun it would seem…"_

Ezra braced himself, he reached for his familiar blue saber...

He couldn't find it.

In a panic he patted his hip, examining every inch of himself, where was it?

" _Looking for this, Loth-rat?"_

Ezra looked at the creature. It grinned back at him in sadistic glee, and it's claw dangled Kanan's Lightsaber in front of him, taunting him.

Ezra gulped, and his heart sunk as he lost the last memory of his old master, and his only method of defence.

The creature loomed over him, stomping and grinning as it stretched out and grew taller, the two giant arms splitting into four and the neck and torso elongating until a giant grey behemoth stood above the defenseless Jedi.

It stomped towards him, slowly, stretching and bending and becoming more deformed, like a predator moving in for the kill it prepared itself.

The creature stopped, feeling a blaster bolt impact on it's back. Ayer fired a few bolts at it in vain from the transport, but the shots did no help against the monstrosity.

In the space of a moment, Ezra weighed his options, he was cornered, he had no lightsaber, the Ghost Crew were definitely not coming to save him, and from the looks of it the creature was far too close to him for the transport to open fire or for Ayer to throw another detonator.

" _You're going to die here! Yes you are!"_ The Mnggal-Mnggal sang with Glee.

Ezra backed away, dodging the Mnggal-Mnggal's attacks as much as he could. His heart pounded in his chest.

He reached out to whatever was nearby, whatever could possibly slow this thing down, right now it was standing between him and the transport, and every attempt he made to flank it was cut short by a long spindly limb.

He threw whatever he could at the creature with the force. All sorts of objects, anything large, anything that could slow it down, and kept trying to flank him.

He looked around, until his eyes settled on some kind of container, a container with a lot of red markings on it...

"Ayer! Hit this!"

Ezra wasn't sure if Ayer had heard him, or simply knew what to do, but sure enough as Ezra threw the container, and it hit the Mnggal-Mnggal in the side, embedding itself. Ayer shot it.

A large splash removed a sizeable chunk of the creature, but it soon bent and twisted, and resumed its shape.

Ezra didn't think his heart could sink any lower, but it did.

" _Oh dear? What's the matter? Sad that you couldn't save your precious Spectres?"_

Ezra continued to back away, panic overwhelming him.

" _The Far Outsiders... the nightmare the Admiral tries to warn you of... Oh they are a horror! The Admiral fears them and rightly so! You should too! Do you know what they will do to Lothal? Do you know what they will do to your precious homeworld should- no... when they find it?"_

Two appendages shot out at Ezra. They went for his legs, Ezra tried to push them back, but his lower legs received shallow slashes. Blood was drawn, and he grit his teeth and desperately limped backwards.

" _I wonder which would be worse... me, or them... but you'll never find out... you'll die here, and the Far Outsiders will kill all your little Spectres..."_

He concentrated, he tried as hard as he could to keep calm, but his mind was overwhelmed. Fear, panic, anger, all of them were building. He was at the end of his rope, and he didn't know what to do.

More appendages shot out, reaching for him, clawing at him. Ezra tried to push them back, but more than one of them hit. The Jedi began to buckle under the lacerations, and clutched his now bloodied chest.

" _I'd imagine their deaths will be quite painful... to be quite honest with you... they'd be better off just letting the Empire kill them, your master should have let the fire consume you all..."_

"Don't you _dare_ mention him..." Ezra growled, gritting his teeth in anger.

" _Piles and piles of dead bodies... burning fields of grass filled with dead wolves... and in the middle of it all... your friends, your oh so precious little Spectres... stretched across instruments of agony and despair... the life forcibly drained out of them through scream after scream... suffering and torture unimaginable to your kind... who do you think would the last the longest? I think the Lasat would be able to handle an impressive amount of suffering don't you? What about the Twi'lek, Hera? Oh yes she'd die very very slowly... do you think her last thoughts would be of her love? The one who gave his life for her? The Far Outsiders hate droids you know, they would rip little Chopper to pieces with their bare hands!"_

The Mnggal-Mnggal laughed, it laughed joyously at the almost defeated Jedi in front of him.

" _Oh... and let's not forget the Mandalorian... the one with delusions of artistry? Her kind were built to destroy, to kill and conquer, not to create, she fights her very nature... what an idiot. I wonder which will cause hurt her more? Will it be the torture breaking her body? Or will it be the shame and guilt of her failure to save you breaking her mind?"_

"NO!" Ezra yelled, blasting the creature with as much force as he could. He put everything into one last assault. His growing frustration at the creature was let out all at once, and in a last desperate effort a large burst of energy very nearly split.

Ezra should've been at least somewhat relieved. He gagged, disgusted at himself for doing such a thing.

He'd gotten close there. Just there, he could feel it. His anger, his frustration, his fears being inflamed by the entity.

Just for a moment, he felt the dark calling him.

As far as Ezra was concerned, it was a moment too much.

If the Mnggal-Mnggal had vocal chords, it would no doubt be sore from the roaring triumphant laughter.

" _Look at you! Look at you! I felt that you know! Oh this is priceless! I forgot how much fun you Jedi are! Ha ha! Some Jedi Knight you are!"_

Ezra's knees buckled, physically exhausted. His wounds dragged him towards the floor, and he felt sick.

His stomach was in a knot, and he was paralyzed by his own horror. The Mnggal-Mnggal's laughter echoed through his head, a thousand invisible voices laughing at him from every direction, mocking him for his failure.

"No..."

He was beaten, he'd been beaten the moment he set foot on this ship. He was no match for this creature and his heart sank at the realization. This creature had toyed with him incessantly since he arrived here and it had placed him right where it wanted him.

" _Oh no! Jedi aren't supposed to do that! What would the Spectres say? What would Kanan say..."_

Those words stung like fire to Ezra. The mention of that name made his blood boil, but he was in no position to argue.

" _It has been fun, Jedi... you have given me much amusement... it almost seems a shame to kill you... but if I don't kill you here you will simply wither away like flesh creatures do..."_

For a moment, Ezra resigned himself to his fate. For a moment, he'd given up, he was done.

No, no he had to live through this. He couldn't die out here. Snap out of it, if you die now, Ezra thought, you can never redeem yourself.

Then he realized, he had one more trick up his sleeve.

It was a long shot, to be fair, and no other blaster had worked against the creature, but if it was powerful enough to disintegrate a living being...

Ezra responded, without uttering a word, by drawing the one tool he had left.

" _Where!?"_ The Mnggal-Mnggal hissed.

" _Where did you get that!? I destroyed them all!"_

"Looks like you missed one." Ezra said coldly.

The Crewman's blaster, the one Ezra had found in the power core.

Ezra glared at the creature, hissing and moving to attack. The dial still set to maximum power, he raised his arm, and pulled the trigger.

A yellow beam erupted from the muzzle, blasting into the creature's chest as a loud sizzling noise filled the air. The Mnggal-Mnggal itself burned away, the ooze dissolving and evaporating into dust. The large form stepped back, and tried on multiple occasions to excise the chunk affected by the beam, but it was no use. The ooze continued to evaporate as the creature started to melt and wither.

" _Don't feel too happy, Loth-rat..."_ The creature sneered.

" _you think you are triumphant? You were lucky... there's no winning against one to whom time has no meaning... I will get you... sooner or later...I will get you"_

"I look forward to it..." Ezra sneered back, filled with far more contempt at this creature than a Jedi should've been.

Ezra took a running start, ignoring the melting, dissolving mass of ooze, and leaping over the undead to grab onto the transport. Ayer and Ormyn pulled him up as the door closed and the transport turned to the exit.

* * *

 

Without a moment's notice, the ship jumped into hyperspace. The Chimaera had only just avoided a head-on collision when the chrome vessel blasted off into hyperspace, grazing the side of the Chimaera's shields as it left. The entire ship shaked and shuddered, with Thrawn, Faro and any other standing personnel grabbing onto nearby equipment to support themselves.

"The ship's gone, Admiral..." Hammerly reported.

"It's jumped to lightspeed."

"Is there any sign of the transport?"

"Delta-1 has responded," Lomar reported, "they're clear of the ship and are on their way back. Captain Fel's squadron is also returning to the hangar."

"Very Good, Commodore, gather a squad of Flametroopers and follow me to the hangar."

"Sir?"

"When dealing with the Mnggal-Mnggal, Commodore, it is best to take precautions."

* * *

Ezra never thought he'd be relieved to be back on board a Star Destroyer, but as he stepped out into the Chimaera's hangar, his eyes adjusted as he took in the large room, and the sterile Imperial architecture was a welcome change of pace after what he'd just endured.

A large circle of Stormtroopers with read markings flanked the transport on every side. In the middle, flanked by two Death Troopers, were Thrawn and Faro.

"Admiral?" Ayer asked.

"Captain Ayer," Thrawn said, stepping forward.

"Step away from the transport."

The Flametroopers stepped forward and took aim. No sooner had all personnel evacuated the transport than the ship was engulfed in flames.

"You're just going to burn it?" Ezra asked.

"A precaution." Thrawn replied.

Then suddenly, something squeaked and slowly crawled out of the landing gear.

"What the hell is that!?" Faro yelled.

Grey, burning ooze hissed and stretched out from the landing gear, more flamethrowers blasted the blob as it sizzled and burned. Ezra saw Faro gag in disgust and clutch her pistol as the entity made attempt after attempt under the fire to make a solid form.

It was all over after a few moments, and Thrawn simply stepped up, flanked by two Death Troopers, to stare down at the sad grey puddle. Ezra too approached it from the side.

"I didn't-" He sputtered, eyes wide in shock.

"When did it get a chance to-"

" _Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo..."_

Ezra heard the whisper again.

" _We meet at last..."_

Ezra looked over to the Admiral. So far he'd been the only one who could hear the Mnggal-Mnggal talking in this manner, and if Thrawn could hear the Mnggal-Mnggal talking, it didn't show on his face.

" _Oh dear... how far you've fallen... the Emperor's greatest warrior... the man who kills for the tyrant... the man who betrayed his people in a misguided attempt save them... brought low by a petty street-rat... and now you cower in the dark... hunted like a rat by the monster you've spent your whole life running from... that icy cold face might fool your crew but I know just how scared you really are... when the Voidlord gets you... oh you should have let me devour you..."_

"Troopers, eliminate the contamination." Thrawn said coldly.

" _And you, Jedi..."_

Ezra wasn't sure how he should react to the Mnggal-Mnggal abandoning it's petulant nickname.

" _you will regret leaving Lothal... at the edge of the Galaxy you will face them alone... your Force will abandon you... and the Voidlord will come for you too..."_

"I'm not afraid of any 'Voidlord'!" Ezra snapped coldly at the burning puddle, Thrawn and Faro both throwing an expression of surprise at him.

" _oh but you should be... you haven't seen what he's capable of... but you'll find that out soon enough..."_

A few more flamethrower blasts, and the puddle had dissolved entirely.

"Commodore, quarantine and scrap the transport, then run scans and sweeps of the entire ship. I want every potential trace of Mnggal-Mnggal eliminated."

"You knew that thing!?" Ezra asked in surprise.

"To be honest? I'm surprised you survived it." Thrawn replied.

* * *

 

"The Bellicose has finished integrating the coolant Admiral, they're back to full speed, and we can continue moving at our usual pace. Not only that, but the charts we downloaded from the ship's navicomputer will allow us to reach the Ascendancy at a much faster rate." Faro concluded her report.

"Mission accomplished." Ezra remarked grimly.

"Excellent work, Commodore, prepare to rendezvous with the fleet and continue as normal."

Faro exited the bridge, Thrawn was just about to return to his work when Ezra approached him.

"So you knew about that creature?" Ezra asked.

"I knew of its existence, not that it was on board the Celaphid vessel." Thrawn replied.

"Was that your big threat? Was that what you meant when you told me there are worse things out here than the Empire?"

"That was one of them, yes."

Ezra blinked. "One of them? There are more?"

Thrawn reacted to Ezra's surprise with cold satisfaction, "There it is. You're finally beginning to understand. Yes, there are many threats out here I had hoped to arm the Galaxy against, and what you encountered aboard that ship is just one of the evils I had hoped to show you. The isolated nature of the Unknown Regions has allowed many creatures to take shape, many you would find bizzarre, even horrifying."

"It laughed at me, it laughed at the Jedi, the Force, the Empire, the Rebellion... It thought of us all like insects. It knew about everything and it just _laughed_."

"You didn't think such a creature could exist, did you?" Thrawn asked.

Ezra sighed, "No, no I didn't."

"Yes, the Mnggal-Mnggal is known to possess an intelligence, one that enjoys inflicting suffering, it's been known to re-animate loved ones to torment it's victims, and apparently it takes particular delight in re-animating dead children in front of their parents."

"It seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of tormenting me." Ezra remarked.

"It's origin is unknown, but it is old, possibly as old as the universe itself, and it is supposedly a highly knowledgeable creature, constantly taunting lesser beings with the promise of knowledge and wisdom."

"It wasn't part of the Force. I couldn't feel it in the Force. How is that even possible?"

"My people are not familiar with your Force. It was the blind spot you exploited on Lothal after all, but the Mnggal-Mnggal is a creature like no other and it wouldn't surprise me."

"Wait, your people don't know the Force? Do your people not have anybody who can use it?"

Thrawn ignored the question.

"The Mnggal-Mnggal is by far the most dangerous creature in the entire Galaxy. There are some that even theorize that the anomaly that separates the Unknown Regions from the rest of the Galaxy was created precisely to contain it."

"I hope I never see that _thing_ again."

"A vain hope, Bridger. You will encounter it again. There are entire planets infested with Mnggal-Mnggal out here, enormous grey oceans that reach into the atmosphere to pull ships to their doom. Whether or not you find it again is not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of when."

Ezra sighed, "Listen, the Nall- I mean, whatever it's called, it spoke to me. I don't know how to describe it but it talked to me. It said something about someone called the... 'Voidlord'?"

Thrawn's expression turned cold at the mention of the name, and a glare made Ezra think that he shouldn't have mentioned it.

"It said you knew him or something, or your people knew him. Is he one of your Far Outsiders or-?"

"The agreement was that I would tell you everything about the Far Outsiders once we reached my home." Thrawn corrected him.

"But-"

"Once we arrive, I will tell you everything." He insisted.

"I put my life on the line there! That has to be worth at least something!" Ezra snapped back.

"I nearly died over there! I risked my life to save _Imperials!_ A few weeks ago you tried to blow up my home and I still went out of my way to help you! That has to be worth something, anything!? I spent hours upon hours crawling around some abandoned old ship putting my neck out for Stormtroopers! Who's the 'Voidlord'!? Is he the leader of your Far Outsiders!? Give me Something! Anything!? Just a hint!?"

Thrawn looked taken aback by Ezra's outburst, but only mildly.

"I am taking a huge risk here helping you here! For all I know, when we're done here, you'll just arrest me, hand me over to the Emperor, and then go back to Lothal and finish it off! Have you forgotten that!? You can't just keep me in the dark!"

Thrawn remained silent, looking off to the side as if barely paying attention to him.

"I went through _hell_ over there! It was the worst experience of my life! And you expect me to just quitely shuffle back to my quarters!? I'm not one of your little subordinates, 'Grand Admiral'! You might be able to act all mysterious and distant around your subordinates, but I am sick and tired of being kept in the dark!"

Ezra took a deep breath, a few nearby officers and personnel had turned to look at him, taken aback by the outburst. Ezra himself felt surprised, and figured that he had more pent up frustration from this whole ordeal than he realized.

Ezra sighed, turning to the door, defeated by the Admiral's lack of a response.

He was just about to leave the bridge and return to his quarters-

"The Voidlord... is not the leader of the Far Outsiders."

Ezra turned in surprise, looking back towards Thrawn.

"In fact Far Outsiders do not appear have a centralized leadership as far as we can tell, instead coalescing into various factions and groupings scattered throughout the Unknown Regions. The Voidlord is only the leader of one such faction, though he is... an oddity, and I hear even among his own kind he and his followers are viewed with distaste. I do not know the details, but I believe it is some form of religious dispute."

"Has he attacked your people? Have you had any encounters with him?"

"Once..." Thrawn replied, answering both questions in one word. He grit his teeth, and for the first time ever, Ezra thought he saw a sliver of anger.

"It was some years before your Clone Wars... and the incident which made the Chiss Ascendancy –and me- aware of their existence. The Voidlord and his forces attacked the outer colony of Kinoss, the planet was devastated, and Admiral Ar'Alani's forces only barely held him back. It was the closest the Ascendancy has ever come to falling, and it was this incident that prompted the Chiss to break their long tradition of isolation and start seeking out allies."

Ezra didn't know what to say, he was curious to know more

"Were you... were you at Kinoss?"

"I was a Junior Officer there, yes. I wasn't much older than you are now..."

Thrawn stared off into the distance for a moment, as if reliving old memories long buried down. Ezra didn't know how to react, was this Thrawn actually showing some semblance of emotion?

Such possibilities were quickly put to an end as Thrawn returned to his usual cold self.

"Does this satisfy your curiosity for now, Ezra Bridger?"

"Why do you think they're a threat to the rest of the Galaxy? If they're scattered across the Unknown Regions-"

"That part I will tell you when we reach the Ascendancy. I have already told you enough for now." Thrawn replied.

"But I assure you, I do have reason to believe they are a threat to your friends, and I will tell you why in time. Has this encounter made you realize what's at stake? Are you finally starting to understand why I chose to serve the Empire?"

Ezra was unsure of how to answer "Maybe, but I don't know."

"This was your first taste of what I warned you about Bridger. You've learned a valuable lesson today. Be sure not to forget it."

"That 'lesson' nearly killed me." Ezra replied.

"I won't."

* * *

 

"Hey! Ayer!"

Ayer stopped, turning around to see the Jedi walking up to him. He kept walking, and once Ezra had caught up the Jedi joined him.

"Hello again, Bridger. Did you want to say something?"

"Ayer, hey. I just wanted to tell you, for what it's worth... thanks, I probably would've died over there if it wasn't for you, and you didn't have to pull me out of that room back there so... thanks."

"Wars and causes aside, we're stuck working together for the foreseeable future

Ayer stopped, unsure of how to respond for a moment.

"Alright, but don't start thinking we're friends now. You're still a Rebel... and I've still lost a lot of good men because of you, especially today."

"Yeah... yeah I know." Ezra grimaced.

The two of them were silent for a moment, before Ezra decided to speak again.

"How do you... justify it?" Ezra asked.

"Justify what?"

"The killing, killing other people, killing other combatants, just killing in general. How do you live knowing that somebody's dead because of you?"

Ayer sighed, "You're still thinking about that whole talk that creature gave you, aren't you? I figured from your screaming fit in the hallway it got under your skin. Yeah I heard that whole conversation you had with 'Kalgen'. You want a word of advice? Don't think about it, you start thinking about every person you kill? You start crying over every single loved one somebody lost because of you? You'll drive yourself insane. People are going to die, it's inevitable, there's nothing you can do about it. So just don't think about it."

"Is that what the Empire taught you? 'Don't think about it?' I tried 'not thinking about it' before and that didn't work."

"There's a difference between 'never having thought about it' and 'choosing to not think about it'."

"Is that how Stormtroopers think then? You just don't think it?"

"I don't know kid. Look, I never really 'hated' the Rebels beyond losing a few good men to them. I never felt any particular love or patriotism for the Empire. Stormtrooper corps was a job. I needed the money, and I wanted out of the Coruscant slums, so I just signed up when I was old enough, got my armour and fell into line. At first it was honestly pretty boring, patrols, garrison duty, occasionally breaking up a minor insurgency somewhere. All that stuff you and your Rebels hate? They introduce that slowly, get you used to it, desensitize you to it, by the time you really get into the more questionable stuff you just kind learn to stop asking questions..." Ayer explained.

"You learn to not think about it."

Ezra sighed, it wasn't a good answer, but then again, was there a good answer to this question?

"I never went out of my way to kill anyone, you know. It just sort of 'happened'. The objective was always 'get the cargo' or 'take out this installation' and the dying was just... a side effect."

"And most Stormtroopers aren't exactly out for blood. For most of them the Empire just pays their salary, puts a blaster in their hands and tells them where to shoot."

Ezra sighed. He was beginning to regret never having this conversation with Hera, or even Kanan when he was still alive, they probably could've provided some good insight into this. They'd have to have thought about this at some point before, right? Surely they could've told him something had he asked.

Nope, instead he was stuck having this conversation with a Stormtrooper of all people, which amusingly, Ezra thought, was a microcosm of his present situation as a whole.

"Look, ask yourself this. That trick that you pulled, the one that put us out here, would you go back and do it again? Answer honestly."

"Of course." Ezra answered.

"Lothal would've been destroyed if I hadn't-"

"Really? Even knowing everything you do now? Even if you knew what was going to happen? How many men were going to die on that ship? In that manner? Because of what you did?"

He paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer.

"I mean, I couldn't just 'not do it'."

"Exactly, now you're starting to get it."

Ezra sighed, "Never thought I'd be getting advice from a Stormtrooper..."

They reached a crossing in the corridor.

"I have to go, I'll see you later Bridger."

"You too Captain, thanks again for... everything."

Ezra made his way down the hallway to his quarters, he was going to lie down for a while and just think of everything that had happened.

The creature from the ship still plagued his thoughts. It was still out there somewhere too, and while he hoped beyond hope that he'd seen the last of it, he somehow doubted that would be the case.

He got too close to the dark back there, far too close. The last time he got this close, he'd had Kanan to pull him back.

And now he didn't.

This was going to be a long trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and Gentlemen, I have had SO much fun writing this! And I hope y'all have had as much fun reading it.
> 
> So first thing's first, my co-author, LBAERoss, has started up his own fanfic, it's called Star Wars Resistance: Dying Light (don't worry, it has NOTHING to do with the god-awful cartoon), it's fanfiction.net, may be here later, and I suggest you go check it out. 
> 
> Now, I should probably explain why I haven't been doing these author's notes so much for the past few chapters, and honestly it's mostly because I didn't want to break up the pacing. Those last few chapter were fairly interconnected, and I kind of wanted to let them speak for themselves. So anyways, now that that's over with, let's dig in.
> 
> The Mnggal-Mnggal, the grey ooze that served as an antagonist in this arc. It's a fairly obscure Legends creature, one I'd wanted to make use of for a while. It was mentioned once in an RPG book and just never given any spotlight, it's a prime example of why Disney's lack of creativity frustrates me, I always thought you could do a really cool horror type storyline with this creature, but instead they insist on playing horsie on casino planet, so I did it myself. When I set out to write Ascendancy, I wanted a darker storyline, I wanted a significantly darker storyline because I was getting sick of how "saccharine" Disney Star Wars is (TLJ is the worst example with broom kid and the horsies, Resistance is also god-awful) so I did a dark horror where an eldritch horror murders dozens of people and psychologically torments the main character.
> 
> This arc was boring originally, it felt like a "fetch the coolant" video game side quest, but I have this lexicon of weird stuff in the Unknown Regions, a backlog of stuff I want to use at some point, and I realized somewhere along the line that the Mnggal-Mnggal would be perfect to use, and everything just sort of fit into place after that. I used the Mnggal-Mnggal because I wanted something
> 
> Ayer was originally supposed to just die in the initial attack, but Ross suggested keeping him alive. I'm glad he did because I really liked the idea of Ezra being forced to work with a Stormtrooper to survive. One of my least favourite aspects of Rebels (and one that Resistance, to my chagrin, has tripled down on) is the portrayal of Stormtroopers as incompetent bumbling morons. I wanted to give them their due here, and I think I succeeded. I ended up really warming up to Ayer, he was a fairly minor character in the Thrawn novel, he showed up for like one scene, but here he is being given a more prominent role, kinda like Faro.
> 
> And then there's my favourite piece of work so far, the first conversation between the Mnggal-Mnggal and Ezra. I had way too much fun writing that scene, and I'm not gonna lie, it was a direct jab at the "kiddie show brakes" Rebels is infamous for. You know what I mean, the "teehee they're clearly dying horribly but it's a Disney XD kids show so it's played for laughs or brushed off screen oh look at the clumsy Stormtroopers staring face first at a bomb that's clearly about to blow them to pieces", remember in the first episode where Kallus kicks a trooper off a cliff and it's played for laughs with a funny Wilhelm scream? Yeah, that's what I was jabbing at, also whenever Sabine explodes a group of inept troopers, that kind of thing. Ezra has obviously killed people before, but I don't think he ever really stopped to actually contemplate the gravity of his actions, the fact that the people dying weren't mooks or evil nazis, they were actual people, I wanted to see him come to terms with that, and I wanted to further erode the "kiddie show tone" from Rebels. One thing lead to another, and I ended up just flipping the whole tone on it's head. I like to think I succeeded, but I'll let you be the judge of that.
> 
> So, Ezra Bridger. Honestly, to me, Ezra was actually one of the weaker aspects of Rebels. His character arc was horribly botched, and I'm still bitter they didn't do anything with that sith holocron. He really was kind of the "kid character", the one put there so the younger audiences could empathize with him (he's also Aladdin but that's besides the point). In Ezra, I saw a lot of wasted potential which I wanted to try and redeem. I thought a lot about how to go about this, and eventually what started as a simple continuation of the Rebels storyline turned into kind of a deconstruction of Ezra Bridger as a character. He's out of his depth here, he's on his own and he's stuck with Imperials. The aim of Ascendancy was to just push Ezra to his limits and see what happened, to break him down as a character and kind of move him beyond that "kid character" baggage. 
> 
> I am nowhere near done with this story, and I've already started the next arc, so I'll see you next time!


	11. Displaced: Part 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone, we're back.
> 
> So after that whole mess we're back with another story arc. Don't wanna say too much right now, but you're gonna be seeing a species entirely created by myself, as in an OG creation, not from Legends like most of the previous material.
> 
> This is a fairly short chapter, it's just up to A. Let y'all know the fic ain't dead and B. set up the new story arc so here it is.
> 
> I would say more, but I got nothing, so enjoy the chapter I guess.

" _Continue with the operation, you may fire when ready."_

The voice sounded familiar somehow. It was cold, calculating, and menacing, filled with malice. A man, ruthless and tyrannical, driven and determined. Another presence, also familiar somehow. It was desperate, and clearly afraid, a woman?

It was huge, whatever it was, massive. The smooth spherical surface of the object was marked by a single concave. A crater, an eye...

Suddenly, a flash of green, a loud, bright explosion of emerald coloured light shining through the darkness.

Fire, burning, death...

Voices, so many voices... all of them screaming.

Silence.

Nothing.

"Ahhh!"

* * *

 

Ezra awoke in a cold sweat, frantically panicking as he bolted upwards and his eyes scanned the dark room around him. He'd been thrashing around so much he'd almost thrown his sheets down over the meditation mat on the floor.

His breathing slowed, he remembered where he was. He was on the Chimaera, speeding through the Unknown Regions, headed for Thrawn's "home", wherever that was, and the threat of strange bioships looming over them.

Ezra rubbed his hands over his face, letting out a sigh. He didn't know the details, he couldn't make sense of the situation, but he knew one thing:

Something terrible had just happened.

The sterile, grey corridors of the Chimaera loomed over the Jedi as he strolled casually through the corridors, but by now Ezra had become oddly used to them. The dull grey hallways lacked the kind of rundown, homely charm of the Ghost, or most other Rebellion ships for that matter, but beggars can't be choosers, and Ezra was in no position to choose right now. During his stay, the Chimaera had come to feel less like an oppressive prison to Ezra, and more like the safest place available to him right now. The cold rigidness of the structure had an oddly secure, almost comforting feeling to it. It's simplicity was blunt, and honest about its purpose. There was nothing "subtle" about an Imperial Star Destroyer, and Ezra quietly pondered to himself if this is how most of the crewmen aboard these vessels feel, oddly safe under the thick layers of durasteel and heavy turbolaser batteries. Then again, these were not normal circumstances, the massive floating fortress was practically the only thing protecting him right now from the darkness of uncharted space surrounding him.

He took a deep breath, he still wasn't entirely over his encounter with the entity on the abandoned ship. He was lucky to be alive, that creature had outsmarted him, and outmatched him physically, if he hadn't found that blaster he wouldn't be standing here right now. It had wrapped him around it's proverbial finger and toyed with him constantly. On top of that, it had also taken him far too close to the dark for his liking.

What was that dream? Ezra continued to think, it certainly wasn't a normal nightmare. It was a message from the force, he'd sensed something, but he couldn't put his finger on what-

Oh no, what about the Ghost Crew?

Ezra felt his chest tighten.

Were they alright?

"Ezra! You're up late!"

Ezra looked down to see a familiar man in an engineer uniform.

" _You're_ up late, Ormyn."

Ormyn smirked, he was crouched down over some panel, mangling wires and components and working away at something. Brex stood over him, motionless. For somebody with a labour droid constantly following him around, Ormyn tended to be doing most of the work, Ezra noticed.

In fact Ezra had also noticed Ormyn had been working a lot more since they'd returned from the coolant retrieval. A morbid thought entered Ezra's head, he probably had to fill in due to the lack of engineering personnel. The Chimaera's engineering team had been... "thinned" by that incident, but he doubted Ormyn wanted to think about that. Ezra himself didn't want to think about that.

"The Chimaera doesn't sleep. That turbolift over there's gone and locked up and I'm trying to fix it before somebody gets hurt. Brex, hand me that spanner there, will you?"

"You know, Chief, I could easily finish this up myself if you-"

"Nah, you know me. If you want a job done well, you do it yourself."

"You don't trust me to get it done, Chief?"

"No, that's not it, I just trust myself more."

Brex shrugged, "Would you trust yourself more to get the spanner?"

"Brex…"

"It was an attempt at humour, Chief, here you go."

Without any further words, Brex handed him the spanner.

"Anyways Ezra, what's your excuse?"

Ezra sighed, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms. "I couldn't sleep, I think something really bad has just happened."

"Like what? Where?" Brex asked.

"I don't know, but I felt something in the Force. It's as if... I don't know, I heard voices, millions of them, and they all screamed and then... nothing."

"It's a bad dream, Ezra. We all get them."

"No I've had bad dreams before, this is different. It's like the Force is trying to tell me something. Somewhere out there, something terrible has happened and I think I sensed it in the Force."

Ormyn shrugged, "Well, I'm sorry Ezra, I'm just an Engineer. I can't exactly help you out on that one. I don't understand all this 'Force' stuff and I doubt I ever really will."

"I'm afraid I'm of no use here either, Bridger. As you can see, I was designed to fix turbolifts, not discuss metaphysics and hand spanners to stubborn Engineers who won't let me do my job." Brex chimed in, throwing a subtle glance at Ormyn.

Ormyn shook his head and continued, "The only Force user I know about is Lord Vader, and that guy is scary enough to make me averse to the whole thing."

"What about the Emperor?" Ezra asked.

"The Emperor? Why would he be able to use the Force?" Ormyn scoffed.

Ezra mentally slapped himself, he'd forgotten how well Palpatine had covered up his Sith identity, "Yeah, right, sorry. I got mixed up. Well anyways, I _have_ met Vader and I can tell you from experience he is just as scary as you think he is." Ezra replied with a smirk.

"You met him once?" Ormyn asked.

"Twice, actually. The first time was on Lothal, the second was-"

He stopped, what happened on Malachor was likely highly classified among the Empire, and knowing about it would probably put Ormyn in a lot of trouble.

"...another incident."

"Look, I'm sorry Ezra. I can't really help you here. Why are you telling me all this anyway? We're on opposing sides of a war, remember?"

Ezra stopped, considering his actions for a minute, "Well to be honest, I've been doing a lot of things lately without really knowing exactly why. I guess that's what happens when you're put in a situation you never expected to find yourself in."

"Yeah I've been meaning to ask you about that." Ormyn said.

"What were you planning to do after you dragged the Chimaera out of the Lothal system anyway?"

"Well, uhhh-"

"Is it some kind of confidential Rebel plan?" Brex asked. He'd been standing so still Ezra had almost forgotten he was there.

"No, no that's not it. It's just, well, I didn't plan that far ahead. I figured I'd send the Chimaera to somewhere else in the Empire, then I'd steal a shuttle or something in the confusion, get off the ship and the Ghost would come and pick me up or something."

"You didn't expect we'd end up in the Unknown Regions?" Ormyn asked.

"No, that was the Purrgils' idea. I didn't even think we'd leave the Lothal sector to be honest. At worst I expected we'd end up near Garel and the fleet would be put out of use for a while, I guess I underestimated just how far the Purrgil could really go."

"And what are you gonna do when we get back?"

"Go back to the Rebellion obviously. Go find the Ghost crew again and show them I'm OK."

"And I guess we'll be enemies again..." Ormyn said grimly.

Ezra frowned, this used to be so much easier, "Hey, listen, if you ever find yourself at the end of a Rebel blaster, just tell them you're a friend of Ezra Bridger and I'll be sure to vouch for you."

"Oh? You consider me a friend now?" Ormyn asked in surprise.

Ezra shrugged, "Well I've gotten along better with you and Brex than anybody else on this ship."

"Well thanks, I'm honored. Hopefully I never find myself in that situation."

A sudden burst of sparks prompted Ormyn to retract his hand from the opening, shaking it a bit and resuming his work.

"Eh, I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, if we stay out here we're dead anyway."

"What about you? After all the trouble you've caused the Empire's gonna want your head on a silver platter."

"I've managed to survive this far, I'll keep going. I just want to see my friends again, I hope they're alright..." Ezra sighed.

"You don't sound too sure about that." Ormyn said.

Ormyn was right, he wasn't.

"This... 'bad thing' that supposedly just happened, you think it has anything to do with your friends?"

"Why do you think I'm up this late pacing around the Chimaera? I certainly hope not. I'm doing this for them, you know? I'm doing this so they can have a fighting chance against whatever's got Thrawn so spooked out here. If I go back and they're all dead..."

"There's no point worrying about it now." Ormyn reassured him.

"If something really bad has happened like you think it has, then the way I see it there's nothing you can do right now until we get out of the Unknown Regions".

Ezra mulled over the answer for a moment, before standing up and sighing. "You're probably right. Thanks for the chat Ormyn, and night by the way."

Ornym went back to his work. "Good night to you too Ezra Bridger." Brex replied for him. Ezra smiled and gave a nod to the droid. Then turned and walked away.

* * *

 

As Faro stepped into Thrawn's dimly lit office, she took note of the vast holographic gallery of art surrounding her. Various sculptures and paintings floated throughout every corner of the room.

The Admiral tended to do this every so often, he would retreat into his office and simply observe the vast virtual art collection stored within the Chimaera's data banks for as long as he wasn't needed, and Faro viewed it as a small source of pride that he thought her capable enough that he would trust her with both the ship and the rest of the Seventh Fleet. Rukh would often stand guard outside the Admiral's office during this periods, and Faro had come to dread interrupting Thrawn lest she incur the Noghri's wrath. So as she stepped into the dimly lit office, surrounded by sculptures and paintings from all sorts of cultures and species she didn't recognize, part of her almost wanted to thank Ezra for getting rid of Rukh.

For a brief moment, Faro took note of a large concrete slab in the corner of the room. It felt almost like an afterthought with how far back it was, and it contained a depiction of what appeared to be some kind of orange bird. In fact it looked vaguely like the symbol the Rebellion was known to use. Faro wondered to herself who painted it, did Ezra know the painter?

"Do you have news of the fleet's whereabouts, Commodore?"

Faro snapped back to attention, "Yes Admiral, as you know we've already rendezvoused with the Bellicose. Captain Pellaeon and the Judicator has been scanning another wreck for anything worth salvaging, but they don't seem to have found anything useful as of yet. The Death's Head, Relentless and the Nemesis were unable to find anything of use."

"And what of the Stormhawk?" Thrawn asked.

"That's what I came to tell you, sir. We've received a message from the Stormhawk, they would return but apparently they've found something interesting, something Captain Branburk says we need to see. They've sent us a report which I have right here."

Faro placed a datapad on Thrawn's desk. Thrawn idly looked it over for a moment, before pressing a button causing the holographic gallery to disappear.

"An inhabited planet?" Thrawn asked.

"Yes Admiral. Captain Branburk says he's located a planet containing large amounts of buildings and surrounded by large orbital structures. Long range scans have indicated that the planet holds a mid level industrial civilization. They haven't made any attempts to contact the Stormhawk and it is unknown if they are aware of its presence."

"Interesting, follow me to the bridge and order the helm to jump to the Stormhawk's position." Thrawn ordered, standing up.

The two of them stepped out into the hallway, heading for the nearest turbolift and setting it to go to the bridge. The turbolift had been ascending for a solid minute when Faro decided to speak.

"Admiral, If I may speak freely for a minute?"

"You may." Thrawn replied.

"I have some... 'doubts' about this plan of yours."

"Understandable, Commodore, we are in a dire situation after all."

"Well, If you don't mind me asking, Sir, why did you leave your people?"

"It wasn't by choice, they didn't approve of my preference towards pre-emptive strikes, and so I was exiled."

"Well, that's kind of what I'm worried about, Admiral. How do you know they won't simply kill you for violating your exile? And us for being outsiders trespassing in their territory?"

"Put simply, Commodore, I don't. But it is the only safe haven within our reach, and I did have allies before I left, if I can make contact with them, I may be able to convince the Ascendancy I have not turned against it."

"And Admiral, there's something else I've been thinking about." Faro said.

"What about the Grysk?"

Thrawn turned in recognition, appearing intrigued at the mention of the name, "What of them?"

"The Grysk live in the Unknown Regions, right? And when we encountered them near Batuu they were moving Chiss children. If we're headed to your Ascendancy, how do you know we won't run into them? They did seem to be taking an interest in the Chiss."

Thrawn paused for a moment, as if considering his answer, "I am unaware of the full strength of the Grysk, or the size of their fleet. However, the Voidlord has one of the most formidable armadas in this part of space. It wouldn't surprise me of they want to avoid a confrontation with him."

"I have to say, Admiral. For a warrior species, the Grysk are very reluctant to actually get into a fight."

"I have noticed that myself. For a supposedly martial culture they certainly do have a tendency towards underhanded or manipulative methods. Their manipulation of the Darshi and attempted manipulation of the Chiss does raise some interesting questions about their true nature."

"Do you think they could be manipulating the Far Outsiders in the same way?" Faro asked.

"Unlikely, Commodore. I am unaware of anything the Far Outsiders hold dear enough for the Grysk to exploit, and the Voidlord is no simpleton. He will not allow them to lead him around as a pawn."

"You think the only reason the Grysk haven't shown themselves is because they're scared of the Voidlord, or because they're trying to figure out how to manipulate him?"

"Potentially. The Grysk always attack the closer enemy, Commodore, but without a concrete idea of where they are, I'm afraid I'm unable to deduce who is closer, the Chiss or the Voidlord."

"Still, it feels weird that for a supposed 'warrior race' they won't just take us head-on. What if they're not all they're cracked up to be? Or maybe they're taking orders from somebody else?"

The turbolift doors opened abruptly, inviting them into the Chimaera's bridge.

"That remains to be seen, but without a better idea of who exactly the Grysk are, it is baseless speculation. For now, the Voidlord is the more immediate threat."

* * *

 

Faro stared out the bridge viewport as the blue tunnel of hyperspace faded back into the black of space. Floating against the void was the Stormhawk, and in the distance, a mere head turn away from Faro, was a large planet. At a mere glance, Faro could tell it was inhabited. The night half of the sphere was visible, and pockets of light, scattered across the surface, shone into the sky. Oceans and lakes dotted the planet, large bodies of water reflecting the sunlight from the surface, though they were scattered and disconnected.

"Officer Lomar, open a hailing frequency with the Stormhawk." Thrawn ordered.

"Yes Admiral." Lomar replied.

The projector lit up, and a blue tinted image of Captain Branburk of the Stormhawk formed in front of Thrawn.

"Grand Admiral, I see the Chimaera has arrived." He responded promptly, with a nod to a junior officer handing him a datapad.

"The planet is clearly visible from here, Captain. If the inhabitants are advanced enough to detect you -and from a mere glance I can see that they most certainly are- they will no doubt have done so by now." Thrawn stated.

Branburk sighed, "I apologise Admiral. This was the point where we jumped into the system. By the time we realized the planet was inhabited and saw the orbital structures, well we came to the same realization. I sent the preliminary report but I'll have a complete report ready and sent to you in due time. In the meantime, I went ahead and made preparations to contact them as per the Unknown Alien Protocols."

"Preparations?" Faro asked, joining the conversation.

"I ordered my communications officer to start scanning for transmissions or a communications system. We've been monitoring them for some time and our translation droids are analyzing the dialects, cross-referencing it with similar languages and attempting to form a translation.

"Have they made any attempts to contact the Stormhawk?"

"If they have Admiral, we haven't picked up anything directed towards us."

"May I listen to one of these transmissions, Captain?" Thrawn asked.

"Of course Admiral, I don't think you'll get much insight from it but if you really want to hear it, here it is."

He signaled to someone off screen then pressed a few keys. A series of high pitched shrieking noises, interspersed with a kind of lower pitched throat chirping filled the bridge. This continued for a full minute, with numerous officers exchanging glances of confusion and morbid curiosity. Thrawn, meanwhile, observed silently, his face betraying no reaction. Faro grit her teeth, the high pitched noises scraping against her ears like chalk.

"These sounds are quite avian in nature. The Calibop have a similar sounding language base." Thrawn remarked.

"There's one more thing, sir." Branburk continued, "Our long range sensors have been able to pick up some of their ships, I can have a sensor focus send you an image of one of the craft if you like."

"If you would, Captain. Await further orders and send me the image."

"Acknowledged Admiral, Stormhawk out."

Branburk nodded and the image disappeared, and a render of what was presumably one of the alien vessels took shape over the projector.

Faro's immediate thoughts on the design were that it looked bulky, and rugged. It reminded her of an old Rendilli Dreadnaught, it's gray utilitarian exterior suggesting a heavy amount of armour.

"It looks..." Faro muttered, struggling to put together an answer.

"The craft is clearly designed with protection in mind. The designers paid no heed to factors like mobility or speed." Thrawn remarked. "What does that tell you, Commodore?"

Faro observed the ship for a moment, preparing her answer. "That the reason why the ship is designed as such is either because the ship was designed purely for defence and support for the large orbital platforms surrounding the planet, or it's because the builders simply lacked the skill and technology to build a ship of sufficient agility." Faro remarked.

"My thoughts exactly, Commodore. This ship was definitely built with a very defensive mindset, which gives us valuable insight into the priorities of the species." Thrawn remarked.

"Namely that they have little interest in expansion and merely wish to be left alone to protect their territory and to ward off potential invaders?" Faro asked.

"Correct, Commodore. It also explains why they have been reluctant to contact us. If they have, indeed, detected us that is. It is possible they have realized the gap in technology and are simply hoping that if they ignore us we will simply leave them be."

"But how would they be able to recognise technologically superior ships if they've never seen them before? Unless..."

"Unless they have indeed encountered superior ships before. Incursions from a hostile alien threat would explain such a mindset and the abundance of orbital platforms quite well." Thrawn finished.

"It would. Regardless, The Chimaera and the Stormhawk both stand at the ready, Admiral. Do we follow the Unknown Alien Protocols and try to make contact or do we just leave them be?"

Thrawn paused for a moment, considering his options and formulating an answer.

"Tell the rest of the fleet to jump in at the edge of the system, out of range of the planet. This system might prove a valuable hiding spot."

"A hiding spot? You mean from your 'Voidlord'? You just said these creatures have encountered technologically advanced ships before, how do we know the Voidlord hasn't already been here?" Faro asked.

"If the Voidlord were here, Commodore, that planet would be a desolate rock." Thrawn replied.

Faro accepted the grim answer, "With all due respect sir, how do you know the Voidlord won't just track the rest of the fleet here?"

"Because he has most likely been keeping track of us using the same hidden monitoring stations he uses to find raiding targets, and if he has not found this planet yet that would mean he has no such stations in this area."

"Hidden monitoring stations? What about the Scout Ships that we've-"

Faro stopped, coming to a sudden realization.

"If he's able to keep tabs on us without us knowing, and yet he's been sending big obvious scouting ships to drift within range of our sensors... he _wanted_ us to know he was tracking us?"

"I believe so. The Voidlord most certainly has never seen Imperial ships before, and is probably fascinated by the sudden appearance of a fleet of unknown vessels. I would imagine he wishes to gauge our reactions and see how we would respond to the sudden appearance of such bioships. It's why I've been reluctant to acknowledge them, if the Voidlord gets any sense that we are familiar with his kind, it may hasten him to engage us. And the Voidlord also harbours a special hatred of the Chiss, if he finds out that the leader of this fleet is one it will most certainly drive him to attack." Thrawn explained.

"And you think laying low here for a while might shake him off our trail?" Faro asked.

"If we were to suddenly disappear from his intelligence and surveillance network for a period of time, the trail could indeed go cold for him."

Faro nodded, it was a good plan alright, but then again she'd never seen Thrawn come up with a bad one. "Very well Admiral, I'll order Officer Lomar to send out the rendezvous signal to the rest of the fleet. I'll also tell them to be sure to jump in at the edge of the system to avoid the planet's sensors. Now we just need to figure out what to do with the planet nearby."

"Remain on standby alert in case they try to preemptively take hostile action, in the meantime we will wait for the Stormhawk to finish it's translation before we decide how to proceed."


	12. Displaced: Part 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, we're back. This story ain't dead yet.
> 
> There were a few things that caused this chapter's delay. A week long creative rut was one of them, as was the fact that I'm new to this whole "release schedule" thing and I'm still figuring out how it works.
> 
> So, the bad news is this chapter is relatively short, it was supposed to have a whole second half but I wasn't able to get it right and the chapter was taking long enough already so I just decided I needed to put something out to let people know this is till going. This whole journey through the Unknown Regions? This was supposed to be the prologue, I still have a whole storyline involving Ezra, Thrawn, the Chiss Ascendancy, the Far Outsiders and the Voidlord planned, and maybe the Grysk will be in depending on how Thrawn Treason goes, and the story will feature a myriad of both returning faces and some new characters. I have a loose timeline of events right up until after ROTJ when Ahsoka and Sabine show up in my head. I want to do the full 5 year time span, no joke, the story I have planned is big, and I've barely even gotten started, maybe I'm insane for doing a project this big, but if I don't do this, nobody else will.
> 
> I've written before, but only essays and short stories, this is the first long-form story I've ever tried to tell. It's by far the most ambitious undertaking I've ever done and I only ask that you all bear with me. My main fear is the story losing momentum due to lack of updates, hence why I released this before I would've otherwise liked. Mark my words, no matter how long any potential hiatus or gap is, Ascendancy is not dead until either I say it's dead or I literally die. With how bad SW has gotten now this story is kind of my coping mechanism anyway.
> 
> The good news is I do still have that second half, and I'm working on it and some more, so hopefully that should mean I can get it out quicker. All things considered I'd rather this story be done well than be done quick.
> 
> Those last few chapters were part of what I'm now calling the "Mnggal-Mnggal Arc", the previous chapter was the start of what I'm now calling the "Narivan Arc", I hope you all enjoy.

Ezra Bridger didn't sleep well.

That much was apparent the moment he tried to open his eyes. After his impromptu chat with Brex and Ormyn, the Jedi had returned to his quarters before engaging in a protracted struggle with himself to fall asleep. The rational part of him had kept repeating Ormyn's advice, that there was nothing he could've done at this moment and that worrying about it was fruitless, but another less rational side to him was unable to let the issue go, the scene playing out over and over in his head as he tried to make sense of it.

And thus Ezra had ended up staying awake and alert for hours on end, his eyes wide open and staring into the pitch black room as these two parts of his mind battled for control. Neither side was victorious, in an ironic twist the internal conflict had sapped his energy, finally allowing him to sleep. Even then, however, his sleep was tumultuous, and shallow at best. He had tossed and turned multiple times, distressed at the mysterious force vision even now.

He rubbed his hands across his face before trying to force his eyes open once more. He wasn't even sure he had the strength to lift himself out of bed, his body was telling him to give up, screaming at him that it wasn't time to awaken and to lie back down and get some more sleep. He'd had a few nights like this before, in particular, early on into his stay aboard the Ghost, before he had adjusted to the loud snoring of a giant Lasat emanating from below him. He sighed, he'd adjusted so well to said snoring that now he still wasn't used to the silence. It reminded him far too much of his pre-Ghost days, being a petty thief trying to live out of a decrepit old comm tower. He'd never liked that tower. It was rare when he didn't worry about it not collapsing beneath him, and the whole reason he'd even started his peculiar habit of collecting helmets was a desperate attempt to try and make it feel like a home. The silence took him back to those days, it convinced part of his mind that he'd wake up on the floor surrounded by rust and dust. It reminded him of a part of his life he'd rather forget.

He'd almost given in to the part of him telling him to go back to sleep when the silence was abruptly broken by a loud blaring noise from outside. The blaring of the klaxon penetrated the thick durasteel walls, and a sudden burst of adrenaline washed away his fatigue in an instant.

"What the..."

* * *

 

Ezra shuffled anxiously as he waited for the turbolift to reach the bridge. He could feel the floor pushing against his feet as it went up and up. He grit his teeth and sighed, drawing on all of the famous Jedi patience he could muster to calm himself.

What was going on up there? His mind raced with possibilities, none of them good. They had been holding position for some time, had the mysterious Far Outsiders finally caught up with them? Had that entity, that monster returned? He had no idea.

When the door finally opened, he walked across the deck at a quickened pace. The crew paid no heed to his rush, too busy at their stations pressing buttons, working with the efficiency of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Standing in the centre of the sea of action, looking over a tactical display at the holo display, was Grand Admiral Thrawn, and standing at his side, as ever, was Commodore Faro.

"Reading five ships, one larger cruiser, four frigates. They've assumed an attack formation and are moving away from the planet towards us. The Stormhawk is standing by on our port side and is ready to engage." Faro reported.

"Have the Stormhawk technicians finished translating their language yet?"

"Yes Admiral, The Stormhawk sent over a package transmission for a protocol droid to load just a few minutes ago. A unit should be on the bridge soon."

"What's going on!?" Ezra asked, moving aside the crew surrounding the projector and trying to draw their attention.

"Ah, Bridger. I see you're awake." Faro acknowledged him dryly.

"I heard the alarm, is it the Far Outsiders?"

"A small fleet left orbit of a nearby planet a few minutes ago, as of right now, they're on approach towards us." Faro explained in a calm and formal manner.

As much as Ezra hated the Empire, he had to admit Thrawn's crew could keep an impressively level head in a combat situation. Before long, his eyes were drawn to the projector. More specifically, he was drawn to the bulky and primitive looking ships on its display. Large conical engines stuck out from the rear of the vessels, and sizeable cannons jutted out at the sides. On closer inspection, Ezra thought he could spot the bridge tucked within the heavy armour and a number of missile launchers.

"Another one of your threats?" Ezra asked Thrawn inquisitively, gesturing to the projector.

"An unknown species, one even I am unfamiliar with."

"Heh, that's a first." Ezra muttered. Faro gave Ezra a look, one of controlled disapproval, he looked away from her condescending gaze. Thrawn seemed to take no offense as he continued.

"The Stormhawk found this system while we were investigating the Celaphid ship. We jumped here while you were asleep and have been attempting to translate their language "

"And why are they coming towards us ?" Ezra asked.

"We're about to find out. They're almost within range." Faro remarked, returning her gaze to the display.

As Faro and Thrawn returned their focus to the dislpay, Ezra waited to see what would happen, and before long he heard a set of mechanical footsteps getting closer. He turned to see an RA-7 protocol droid shuffle past him.

"Admiral, my designation is 5A-6, you have need of my translation services?" It spoke with a mechanical but feminine sounding voice.

"Yes 5A-6, will you please download the aliens' language into your databanks?

5A-6 briefly turned her head to the Jedi, then to Faro, and back to Thrawn. Then interfaced with the main computer for a few moments "Stand by… unpacking… the aliens' language has been loaded to my databanks.

"Which means you will be able to understand what they are saying?" Thrawn asked.

"I believe I am able to broadly understand their language Admiral, though I should warn you such an impromptu translation may not be exact."

"Admiral," Faro called out as the status board flashed. She gestured to the tactical display.

"They've arrived."

Faro was right, the fleet was now directly facing the Chimaera and closing the distance between them. The larger cruiser had its guns s visibly focused on the Star Destroyer, and the frigates flanked it on either side in a V formation. .

"Admiral, we're being hailed by the lead ship! Audio only." Officer Lomar called out from the crew pit.

"Play it."

A set of sharp shrieks and chirps clawed their way out through the audio systems. Ezra grit his teeth and covered his ears, Faro winced and Thrawn betrayed no reaction to the harsh high pitched nature of the language.

"Karabast! What is that!?"

Thrawn paid no heed to Ezra's distress. He turned to the protocol droid with a stern look. "What does it say?"

"The message comes from an 'Admiral Tee Carala'. It says we have violated the space of the 'Narivan Global Federation' and we are to leave immediately or we will be fired upon." 5A-6 replied.

"Narivan?" Ezra asked.

"Officer Lomar, open a channel. 5A-6, prepare to translate."

"Admiral Carala of the Narivan, I am Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Empire. I assure you that our vessels mean no harm. No hostilities were intended when we entered your space. My fleet's discovery of this world was a complete accident, an... 'unrelated incident...'"

Ezra was slightly bemused at Thrawn's attempt to describe the circumstances that led them here, but then again, he probably couldn't have come up with a better explanation himself.

"...caused us to spiral into unknown space, and now we are attempting to navigate home through this uncharted territory. However, my fleet is running into serious issues. We are low on fuel, we have sustained minor hull damage, and our long range communication devices are too damaged to contact our allies. We would like to request access to your repair facilities and your permission to utilize them. I have no desire for hostilities, but I can guarantee you that any form of aggression against us will be met with swift retaliation. How do you respond?"

5A-6 translated the message, vocalizing a series of noises that appeared to be the aliens' language. For what felt like an eternity, they just stood there, and the bridge fell utterly silent as they awaited a response. Thrawn and the droid betrayed no emotion, but Ezra watched with intent, curious as to how this first contact was going to go.

No response from the alien vessels. The bulky cruiser and its screening vessels just floated there, in space, watching intently.

"Do we really need to use those platforms?" Ezra asked.

"The Commodore, Captain Pellaeon and I have talked it over at great length, and we have both agreed that a functioning repair platform, even a primitive one, is too valuable a resource to simply pass up."

Ezra raised an eyebrow, "Really? Oh come on, this ship isn't that bad off."

Faro turned her head at that remark, a slight twitch from her eye as she gave him a sideways glare. "Have you _seen_ how badly the fleet has been holding together?"

Ezra shrugged. "I feel like I've explored almost every inch of the Chimaera by this point, and it doesn't seem _that_ bad. It's still in better condition than most Rebel ships I've been on."

Faro inhaled, "While you were asleep we had a major turbolift failure that completely cut off internal traffic for hours, and almost a quarter of our weapons emplacements were damaged beyond repair when we left Lothal. During our scavenging mission earlier we've had to coordinate continually make sure none of our ships move out of range of each other, because with our damaged communication systems they could lose track and be lost forever, and compared to the other ships the Chimaera practically emerged unscathed. The Bellicose's coolant leakage was the whole reason we sent a team over to the ship in the asteroid field which, by the way, cost us two whole squads of Stormtroopers and two engineering teams, there is serious talk of scuttling the Nemesis due to its failing engines and Captain Pellaeon now has had to worry about the Judicator's life support system switching off unexpectedly. So yes, Ezra Bridger, maybe you haven't noticed, but the fleet really is that bad off."

Faro cleared her throat. Ezra noticing her throwing a quick glance over to Thrawn, as if expecting a reprimanding of some kind, but none came. She never raised her voice, never lost her composure, but Ezra could sense herfrustration. To an extent, he even felt sorry for the Commodore.

He was about to reply when suddenly a warning tone from the threat assessment station made the bridge go alive. A large burst of fire blasted out from one of the cannons on the cruiser, and a projectile shot out and flew over the Chimaera.

"Looks like they've sent their response, Admiral!" Faro exclaimed.

"No form of verbal response, a show of strength..."

He paused for a moment, thinking the situation.

"...but a meaningless one."

Faro cocked an eyebrow, "Admiral?"

"Commodore Faro, are there any asteroids or comets nearby?"

"There's an asteroid field off the starboard side of the ship, Sir."

"Then we shall send them a response in kind." Thrawn said, turning away from the display and walking along the command walkway.

"Starboard turbolaser batteries! Lock onto the asteroids at thirty two mark four, fire on my command!"

"Affirmative." the Chimera's weapons officer acknowledged and began relaying orders to his men seated in the crew pit.

Faro made her way down into the pit to wait for the command. Ezra's face momentarily contorted in confusion as he approached Thrawn.

"An asteroid field? They clearly don't want us staying here, how's shooting up some rocks going to help you?"

"Their commander must have assumed from my mild description of our damage they hoped they could simply scare us off."

"Yeah, they fired a warning shot, that's a pretty clear 'get out of here', don't you think?

"But if they are hostile enough towards outsiders, why not simply kill us?"

Ezra opened his mouth, but in the end he had to simply concede it was a good point.

"I explicitly mentioned within my message that we were lost and cut off from the Empire. If they were to simply destroy us here, there would be no retribution, nobody would ever find out what happened and these 'Narivan' would remain undisturbed in their isolation. If they let us leave, who's to say we won't come back with a full fleet and subjugate them with a force they have no hope of fighting?"

" _I'm asking that question myself right now..."_ Ezra silently thought to himself.

"The answer is simple, they don't have the capability to destroy our fleet. Our scans indicate they don't even possess energy weapons, instead they use physical projectiles and missiles, and the heavy armour suggests their shielding technology is weak. If this is all their fleet consists of then even a single Star Destroyer would be more than a match for them."

Ezra gulped. He didn't like where this was going, not one bit.

"That warning shot was nothing more than an empty bluff, a vain attempt to intimidate us into leaving before we realize how drastically we outmatch them. Even in our damaged state, the Chimaera is still vastly superior to anything within their fleet, they have absolutely no way of causing us significant damage..."

Ezra mulled over Thrawn's explanation, and suddenly, he realized exactly what the Admiral was hoping to accomplish.

"...why, I wouldn't be surprised if they couldn't even destroy an asteroid."

"Oh no..." The Jedi mouthed silently.

"Turbolaser crews reporting ready, Admiral." Faro called out.

"All batteries, open fire."

On the Grand Admiral's orders, the Chimaera's gun crews responded with a withering hail of fire, green energy bolts flew out from the starboard side of the Chimaera as the ship fired full broadside on the field. One by one, the asteroids all flashed and disappeared, vanishing into an explosion of fire and dust.

"We have met their bluff with a showcase of strength." Thrawn

"More like a threat..." Ezra sneered, glaring at the Admiral.

"No, I'm simply meeting their posturing with a display of our strength. The implication of such an act is entirely their own invention."

"How can you be so sure they're going to back down?"

"Why wouldn't they? What are they going to do? Attack us? Drive us out of their system? They don't have the capability to do so."

"Typical Imperial..."

"I am being lenient, Bridger. I could simply call in the rest of the fleet to annihilate these ships, storm the platforms and take what we need by force if necessary. We will utilize their facilities and be on our way. This way none of their people will die, and none of our people will die. We will leave and they can return to their isolation."

Ezra sighed, he was angry, and his clear blue eyes glared at the Admiral, but he didn't have an answer to the Grand Admiral's logic. No coherent argument or rebuttal was able to leave his mouth.

"Admiral, we're receiving another transmission from the lead ship." Lomar called out.

"Open a hailing frequency." Thrawn said, Walking to the front of the bridge to a terminal set against the main viewport.

Another set of chirps, warbles and other vaguely avian sounding noises, but these were different. They sounded quieter, dejected, defeated, and even with the language barrier Ezra could pick out the sombre tone.

"Admiral Carala says that in order to use the orbital platforms, you will have to negotiate directly with the planetary President. Sir, he says he would be willing to take you to them on the planet's surface in one of his ships." 5A-6 translated.

Thrawn nodded, and glanced briefly back to Ezra. It was small, and he could very well have imagined it, but Ezra swore just for a moment he could see the corner of the Admiral's lip twist up into a smirk.

"Tell him I shall be traveling down in my personal shuttle, and that I appreciate the opportunity to meet his superiors." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank Ross again for helping me edit this and for getting the ball rolling on this whole Narivan idea, I came up with the name, their appearance and the planet itself (which you'll see next chapter) but Ross was the one who came up with the idea so thanks man. Another thing that delayed this chapter was that I was helping him with his own fanfic, it's called Star Wars Resistance: Dying Light, it's over on fanfiction dot net, and no, it has absolutely nothing to do with that god-awful animated show. It's shaping up to be interesting and we've talked about the possibility of having these in a connected universe somehow. So go check it out I guess.
> 
> And before anybody asks, yes, I have seen the Episode IX Trailer, it looks like a cheap cash grab and I'm not looking forward to it. JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson are both talentless hacks who couldn't make a good movie to save their lives. Go read the Thrawn trilogy instead it's basically just the good Sequel Trilogy. 
> 
> Next time we meet the Narivan proper, and we go down to their planet and learn about them a bit. I'll see you all next time.


End file.
